More AI tools now cite Grokipedia amid rising misinformation fears
What's the story
xAI developed an AI-generated encyclopedia called Grokipedia, which is now being referenced by major AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and others. This development has raised concerns among researchers over the accuracy of information and the potential for misinformation. A report by The Verge highlights how these AI tools are using Grokipedia as a source.
Rising influence
Grokipedia's presence in AI-generated responses
Despite being a relatively new player, Grokipedia is slowly but surely making its mark in the world of AI. Analytics firms have noted that its presence in AI-generated responses is on the rise. Ahrefs data shows that Grokipedia has been cited in over 263,000 ChatGPT responses from a pool of 13.6 million prompts, using data from some 95,000 pages.
Citation trends
Increasing citations in Google's AI products
Marketing platform Profound's data shows that Grokipedia makes up 0.01-0.02% of daily ChatGPT citations. The figure is small but has been steadily increasing since mid-November. Semrush has also noted a similar trend across Google's AI products since December, even though Grokipedia still lags behind more established reference sites.
Platform comparison
Citations across different AI tools
Ahrefs's data shows that ChatGPT cites Grokipedia more often than other platforms. The encyclopedia has been cited in some 8,600 Gemini responses, 567 AI Overviews responses, and 7,700 Microsoft Copilot answers. Some researchers also believe Anthropic's Claude may be citing Grokipedia but this isn't officially tracked yet.
Query response
Usage patterns and differences in citation styles
AI tools often turn to Grokipedia for niche or highly specific factual questions. Jim Yu, CEO of BrightEdge, told The Verge that Grokipedia is usually used for "non-sensitive queries" like definitions or encyclopedic lookups. However, the authority given to it by platforms varies widely. For instance, Google's AI Overviews usually cites Grokipedia along with other sources and treats it as supplementary while ChatGPT gives it more prominence sometimes listing it among the first sources cited.
Accuracy issues
Concerns over accuracy and ideological biases
Experts have raised concerns over Grokipedia's accuracy and lack of human oversight. The site is created and edited by xAI's chatbot Grok, with no transparent human supervision. When it first launched, many articles were copied from Wikipedia while others contained racist, transphobic or misleading views. Critics have also flagged entries that downplay Musk's family wealth, misrepresent historical events, or contain questionable ideological framing.