Elon Musk challenges Wikipedia

Elon Musk claims his new platform will “clean up propaganda” on Wikipedia. Photo: Kenny Holston/The New York Times .

Billionaire Elon Musk has just announced Grokipedia , an online encyclopedia platform powered entirely by Artificial Intelligence (AI). He positions this project as a direct competitor to Wikipedia - a community knowledge platform built by communities around the world since 2001.

Launched on October 27, Grokipedia now boasts more than 800,000 AI-generated entries, a modest number compared to Wikipedia 's nearly 8 million articles. The project is overseen by Elon Musk's xAI company, which he has called a necessary measure, claiming Grokipedia will "clean up the propaganda" he believes is flooding Wikipedia .

Grokipedia is the latest addition to Musk's online media ecosystem, which includes the social network X and the chatbot Grok , and is often in tune with the billionaire's personal views and public stances.

For instance, entries about Elon Musk himself on Grokipedia are overwhelmingly positive, praising him as a “pioneer and innovator” and even mentioning the billionaire’s personal diet.

Notably, on politically sensitive topics, Grokipedia takes a clear opposite stance, consistent with Musk's. Its entry on gender reassignment claims that medical treatment is based on "limited and low-quality" evidence, in stark contrast to Wikipedia , which notes that scientific understanding of the subject has existed for decades.

Wikipedia is an open encyclopedia platform, built by volunteers over the past 15 years. Photo: Evan Mills/Wired.

Similarly, Grokipedia also highlighted Musk's accusation that former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal downplayed the existence of bots—a detail that does not appear on Wikipedia . These fundamental differences show that Grokipedia is going directly against Wikipedia 's stance and approach to information.

The creation of a rival knowledge repository underscores a struggle over control of information. “The desire to control knowledge is as old as knowledge itself. Controlling what is written is a way to gain or maintain power,” said Ryan McGrady, a senior research associate at UMass Amherst who specializes in encyclopedias.

In response to the growing challenges from AI, Wikipedia's leadership is actively defending its community model. Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has expressed skepticism that AI can match human accuracy. He asserts that Wikipedia 's focus remains on promoting neutrality.

The Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that oversees Wikipedia , acknowledges that AI is a significant threat. It reports that human visits have dropped 8% this year, while visits from AI companies' crawlers have increased.

Selena Deckelmann, the Foundation's chief technology officer, warns that chatbots and AI summaries can prevent users from accessing original sources, leading them to accept information at face value.

“The core value of Wikipedia is that it allows people to dig deeper into information sources,” she stressed.

Source: https://znews.vn/elon-musk-thach-thuc-lat-do-wikipedia-post1598117.html