Elon Musk has revealed that his AI venture, xAI, will unveil the early beta of its Wikipedia alternative in two weeks, positioning the service as a solution to “falsehoods” and “half-truths.”
In response to a post regarding the forthcoming AI-driven “Grokipedia,” Musk stated on X this Sunday that “version 0.1 early beta” will be launched in two weeks.
Musk first mentioned the development of Grokipedia on Sept. 30, noting on X that it “will be a massive improvement over Wikipedia,” further stating that: “frankly, it is a necessary step toward the xAI goal of understanding the Universe.”
While specific details are currently limited, Musk has indicated that Grokipedia will function as an “open source knowledge repository.”
It seems that the concept for Grokipedia was initially proposed during a summit held by The All-In Podcast in September. While speaking to the panel, Musk explained that Grok analyzes a variety of sources, including Wikipedia entries, documents, and PDFs, to determine the truthfulness of information, whether it is “partially true,” false, or lacking details.
He mentioned that Grok would rephrase this information to present what it considers the complete truth. In response, co-host David Sacks suggested Musk should create a service called “Grokipedia,” to which Musk replied he would “talk to the team” about it.
Elon Musk’s Dispute with Wikipedia
The Tesla co-founder has had an ongoing dispute with Wikipedia, criticizing the site on multiple occasions for allegedly hosting misinformation, exhibiting left-leaning editorial practices, and censoring specific content.
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In October 2023, Musk even jokingly offered to pay Wikipedia $1 billion if it rebranded as “Dikipedia,” targeting what he perceives as ideological bias during the Wikipedia Foundation’s fundraising campaign at the time.
Recently, he revisited this joke last week in response to remarks from venture capitalist Chamath Plihapitiya, who claimed that “Wikipedia is a massive psyop.”
Wikipedia Controversies
Due to the crowd-sourced nature of its content, Wikipedia has faced numerous controversies over the years, many of which are documented and listed on its site.
A recent event that has reignited discussion about the platform was an interview Tucker Carlson conducted with Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger on Sept. 30.
Sanger, who ceased involvement with the platform in 2002, cited the approved and blacklisted sources on Wikipedia, alleging that “there is a serious academic encyclopedia of Christianity that is not allowed on Wikipedia,” among other claims.
“There is a whole army of administrators — hundreds of them — who are constantly blocking individuals with whom they have ideological disagreements,” he stated.
According to Musk, xAI is set to expand further, with plans for a gaming division also underway. In another retweet on X this Sunday, Musk noted that the “xAI game studio will release an outstanding AI-generated game before the end of next year.”
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