Tech billionaire Elon Musk has just introduce a brand-new project called Grokipedia, an AI-powered online encyclopedia that aims to share only “truthful” info. This new platform is being called a rival to Wikipedia, the world’s most popular free encyclopedia. The first form, Grokipedia v0.1, went live on Monday and is now open for everyone to visit and explore.
What Is Grokipedia?
Grokipedia is designed to look and feel like Wikipedia but works very differently. Instead of letting publics edit pages like Wikipedia does, Grokipedia is fully managed by Musk’s AI chatbot, Grok. This means that humans cannot directly change or add information right now. However, users can ask Grok to update or modify an article if they believe something needs fixing.
The homepage of the new website is very simple — it only has a big search bar where people can type a topic to find articles. At the moment, there are about 885,000 articles available, covering a wide choice of global topics. Musk said that the platform is completely free and open-source, meaning anyone can use it without disbursing.
Elon Musk’s Announcement
Elon Musk revealed the launch of Grokipedia in a post on X (formerly Twitter). He called it version 0.1, and said, “Version 1.0 will be 10 times better, but even now, it’s better than Wikipedia, in my opinion.” Musk has also criticized Wikipedia in recent weeks, demanding that it contains “propaganda” and lacks accuracy.
He mentioned that his AI chatbot Grok, which is part of his business xAI, will soon stop using Wikipedia as a source and rely only on Grokipedia. This shows that Musk wants Grokipedia to become a reliable source of knowledge for AI systems in the future.
Early Criticism and Controversy
Even though Grokipedia just launched, it’s already facing criticism. According to The Verge, many articles on Grokipedia appear to have been copied or rewritten from Wikipedia. On some pages, Grok even adds a message saying, “The content is adapted from Wikipedia.”
A spokesperson from the Wikimedia Foundation, Lauren Dickinson, responded by saying that Wikipedia’s strength comes from its human editors, who make sure info is transparent, accurate, and regularly enhanced. She also pointed out that AI platforms like Grokipedia still depend on Wikipedia’s human-created content to function.
What’s Next for Grokipedia?
Grokipedia is still in its very early stage, but Elon Musk believes it will grow into something much bigger. He says future versions will be smarter, faster, and more reliable. Whether it truly swaps Wikipedia or not, one thing is certain — Musk’s new AI encyclopedia has already started a big debate about the future of knowledge online.
