Is Elon Musk's Grokipedia copying articles from Wikipedia?
What's the story
Elon Musk's xAI has launched Grokipedia, a Wikipedia-like online encyclopedia. Grokipedia claims its entries have been fact-checked by the platform's AI tool, Grok. However, this has raised questions over its reliability, since it is known to generate false information. Despite Musk's promise of a "massive improvement" over Wikipedia with Grokipedia, some articles appear to have directly lifted content from Wikipedia. For instance, the MacBook Air page reads: "The content is adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License."
Concerns
Users can't edit pages on Grokipedia yet
The platform bears a striking resemblance to its predecessor, with a simple homepage dominated by a search bar and basic entries structured with headings, subheadings, and citations. However, unlike Wikipedia, users can't edit pages on Grokipedia yet. A prominent "edit" button only appeared on select pages but didn't allow for user suggestions or changes.
Controversial entries
Grokipedia's take on climate change differs from Wikipedia
Grokipedia's take on climate change differs from Wikipedia's. While the latter notes a "nearly unanimous scientific consensus that the climate is warming and that this is caused by human activities," Grokipedia's entry only mentions "unanimous" in one paragraph. It cites the critics who argue that claims of near-unanimous scientific consensus on anthropogenic causes dominating recent climate change, overstate agreement due to selective categorization in literature reviews.
Content comparison
What's the difference between Grokipedia and Wikipedia?
Grokipedia boasts over 885,000 articles, a far cry from Wikipedia's seven million English pages. However, it's worth noting that this is an early version of Grokipedia. Since its inception in 2001, Wikipedia has been the backbone of online knowledge. Hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, it remains the only top global website run by a non-profit organization. Unlike newer projects like Grokipedia, Wikipedia has transparent policies and rigorous volunteer oversight ensuring continuous improvement.