ISLAMABAD: Elon Musk’s newly launched “Grokipedia,” his open-source alternative to Wikipedia, has sparked a wave of mixed reactions online, ranging from praise to sharp criticism.
Elon Musk, former senior advisor to the US president, claimed on Wednesday in a post on X that “Grokipedia will exceed Wikipedia by several orders of magnitude in breadth, depth, and accuracy.”
Musk launched Grokipedia, his version of Wikipedia, on Monday.
Later in a post on Tuesday, Musk, while congratulating the xAI team, elaborated upon the goal of the new initiative.
“Nice work by the @xAI team on http://Grokipedia.com! The goal here is to create an open source, comprehensive collection of all knowledge. Then place copies of that etched in a stable oxide in orbit, the Moon and Mars to preserve it for the future,” Musk said.
In another post on Tuesday: “The goal of Grok and http://Grokipedia.com is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. We will never be perfect, but we shall nonetheless strive towards that goal.”
Musk further claimed that Grokipedia has the highest accuracy of any information people will find online.
Mixed reactions online
Grokipedia has received mixed reviews so far.
Praise and curiosity
Paul Golding, co-leader of the UK’s political party, Britain First, was all praise for Grokipedia.
In his post on X, he stated: “I must admit @elonmusk ….I am very impressed 👏👏👏 #grokipedia.”
Mario Nawfal, who hosts a show on X, posted: “Elon just dropped the beta of Grokipedia. Powered by 𝕏 and xAI, the platform promises open, uncensored information, its answer to Wikipedia. Is it the future of knowledge?”
Criticism and concerns
Dave Jones, the creator/host of EEVblog, was critical of Grokipedia. In his post on X, he stated: “Grokipedia rips off directly from Wikipedia, word for word, formatting, structure, the whole thing.”
Sebastian Huld, an X user, posted: “Welcome to #grokipedia, where a white Billionaire from South Africa explains the world, what really happened. Telling Article on #GeorgeFloyd and #BLM. Let's see, if Mandela will also be introduced as a convicted terrorist.”
