Elon Musk has introduced a new online encyclopedia called Grokipedia through his company, xAI. While it shares some similarities with Wikipedia, there are also key differences between the two platforms.
What is Grokipedia?
Grokipedia is an online encyclopedia that aims to present information in a format similar to Wikipedia. The site’s design is currently simple: the homepage features a large search bar, and the articles follow a basic structure with headings, subheadings, and citations. However, as of now, the site does not feature images.
How it differs from Wikipedia
One major difference is that Grokipedia does not seem to allow users to edit articles in the same way that Wikipedia does. On Wikipedia, anyone can contribute to or modify an article, but Grokipedia appears to have more limited editing functionality. Grokipedia claims that its articles are “fact-checked.”
This raises concerns because large language models, like the one powering Grokipedia, sometimes produce inaccurate or fabricated information. Unlike Wikipedia, which relies on a community of volunteer editors, it is unclear how reliable Grokipedia’s fact-checking process is.
Content sourcing
Despite Elon Musk’s promise that Grokipedia would be a significant improvement over Wikipedia, some articles on the site appear to be directly copied from Wikipedia.
For example, on the MacBook Air page, there’s a note stating that the content is “adapted from Wikipedia.” In some cases, the articles are almost identical to their Wikipedia counterparts. Musk acknowledged this issue in a recent statement, promising that the team will address it by the end of the year.
Controversial entries
Some of Grokipedia’s entries reflect opinions that could be considered controversial. For instance, an article on climate change suggests that media outlets and organisations like Greenpeace are overstating the issue. This viewpoint contrasts with the consensus of many scientists and environmental organisations, which could raise questions about the site’s editorial stance.
Similar format
Like Wikipedia, Grokipedia’s pages follow a similar format, with headings, subheadings, and citations. Both sites are designed to allow users to easily search for and explore a wide range of topics.
Large collection of articles
Grokipedia claims to have over 8,85,000 articles, whereas Wikipedia currently hosts around 7 million English-language articles. Although Grokipedia is still in its early stages (version 0.1), it is growing, but it still lags far behind Wikipedia in terms of total content.
Wikipedia’s advantage
Wikipedia has been around since 2001 and remains the most trusted online encyclopedia. It is run by the Wikimedia Foundation, a nonprofit organisation, which means it does not rely on ads or selling user data for revenue. Wikipedia’s strength lies in its collaborative, open-source model, where volunteers from all over the world contribute and improve the content. This approach has helped Wikipedia become the go-to resource for knowledge online.
Unlike newer projects like Grokipedia, Wikipedia’s transparency, community oversight, and commitment to neutrality have helped it maintain its position as the most reliable source of information on the internet.
(Written by Rakesh Kumar of The New Indian Express)
