Grokipedia is racist, transphobic, and loves Elon Musk

On Monday, a caller online “encyclopedia” sputtered to life. Grokipedia is the brainchild of Elon Musk and his startup xAI, and the billionaire is promoting it arsenic a supposedly little woke and little biased mentation of Wikipedia. Musk’s goal? “The truth, the full information and thing but the truth.”

In some format and style, Grokipedia bears a striking resemblance to Wikipedia, albeit a precise basal version. Entries are organized with headings, subheadings, citations, and a database of sources astatine the end. Each nonfiction besides claims to person been fact-checked by Grok, xAI’s AI chatbot, though it’s not wide what this “fact-checking” involves. Also unclear is however the 885,279 entries, arsenic presently listed connected Grokipedia’s homepage, are created and by what oregon whom.

Much of the contented connected Grokipedia is besides suspiciously akin to Wikipedia. In galore cases, articles are practically — and sometimes literally — clones of their Wikipedia counterparts. But for entries tackling topics that jar with Musk’s idiosyncratic worldview, galore articles instrumentality connected a remarkably antithetic tone. Here, Grokipedia abruptly veers into right-wing talking points, factual inaccuracies, critiques of mainstream media, and unfounded conspiracy theories. At times, Grokipedia is overtly racist and transphobic. Musk comes disconnected alright, though. He and his businesses are often painted successful a rosy light.

A signifier plays retired for different entries covering firmly settled science. On the Vaccines and autism page, Wikipedia states that “extensive probe into vaccines and autism spectrum upset has shown that determination is nary narration betwixt the two, causal oregon otherwise, and that vaccine ingredients bash not origin autism” and notes the overwhelming “consensus that vaccines are safe” from scientists and aesculapian bodies similar the WHO, CDC, and FDA. Grokipedia is much circumspect. Its introduction lone rejects the thought that MMR vaccines origin autism, it lends credence to alleged vaccine-skeptical views by calling the thought a “hypothesis,” and the sole notation of technological statement is to accidental however a caller CDC declaration signals “sustained argumentation momentum contempt absorption from mainstream technological statement bodies.” For covid origins, Grokipedia again fails to admit statement and amplifies suggestions the microorganism was engineered, portion Wikipedia repeatedly describes allegations of genome engineering arsenic “misinformation oregon misrepresentations of technological evidence.”

Similarly, Grokipedia’s introduction connected clime alteration is different motion that Musk mightiness inhabit a satellite with a much fungible conception of reality. As The Verge’s Jay Peters notes, Grokipedia glosses implicit what Wikipedia says is simply a “nearly unanimous technological statement that the clime is warming and that this is caused by quality activities” to, instead, item “heightened nationalist alarm” caused by media and advocacy organizations similar Greenpeace.  

These technological Grokipedia entries work similar twisted Wikipedia articles, but much governmental entries are a nastier departure. Grokipedia’s introduction for Transgender deploys the word “transgenderism” aggregate times. Wikipedia, meanwhile, notes that the word “has travel to beryllium viewed arsenic a pejorative.” 

Unlike the Wikipedia introduction for Chelsea Manning, the whistleblower and erstwhile US Army quality expert who shared concealed quality with WikiLeaks successful 2010, the Grokipedia entry connected her beingness deadnames and misgenders her astatine length.  

As spotted connected Bluesky, Grokipedia’s introduction connected Race and intelligence claims that subject shows immoderate races are much intelligent than others — and adjacent lists the alleged IQ scores of antithetic races. Wikipedia’s entry by the aforesaid name, meanwhile, points retired that differences successful IQ scores can’t beryllium explained by genetics. (Grokipedia writes that “the grade to which genetics lend to between-group differences remains contentious.”) The argumentation conception of the Grokipedia introduction besides cites the pseudoscientific diary Mankind Quarterly, known for publishing “race science” and having ties to achromatic nationalism. 

While Wikipedia calls the January 6th onslaught connected the US Capitol an “attempted self-coup,” Grokipedia’s connection astir “widespread claims of voting irregularities” seemingly justifies the riot by President Donald Trump supporters, and downplays the unit by saying that “most” insurrectionists “carried nary firearms and the incursion was cleared wrong hours.” Wikipedia readers volition learn, instead, that Congress itself found the riot to beryllium an unsuccessful, but purposeful, portion of Trump’s program to overturn the election. 

Wikipedia describes George Floyd arsenic a Black antheral who was murdered by a achromatic constabulary serviceman successful an lawsuit that acceptable disconnected a question of nationwide protests against constabulary brutality and racism. On Grokipedia, Floyd is champion known for his transgression record, starting with a condemnation that is hard to work arsenic thing different than intentionally racist: “George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1973 – May 25, 2020) was an American antheral with a lengthy transgression grounds including convictions for equipped robbery, cause possession, and theft successful Texas from 1997 to 2007.” Readers don’t larn that Floyd was murdered until the 4th condemnation of Grokipedia’s entry.

The Department of Government Efficiency, oregon DOGE, is notably absent from Grokipedia, which is unusual fixed that Elon Musk ran the short-term quasi-government bureau tasked by President Trump with supposedly eliminating discarded successful the national government. (Grokipedia directs users to the Shiba Inu internet meme instead.) Wikipedia readers tin larn astir DOGE’s relation successful wide layoffs of national workers and dismantling long-standing national agencies, contempt DOGE’s ain unclear authorities authority.

At slightest 1 idiosyncratic comes disconnected precise well: Musk. Grokipedia entries connected him and his businesses consciousness similar an exertion has taken an airbrush to Wikipedia articles. There’s nary notation of his father’s emerald interests successful his Grokipedia biography, for example, downplaying his household wealthiness arsenic “relative affluence.” Wikipedia, meanwhile, makes 3 mentions of emeralds, excluding citations, and describes his household arsenic “wealthy.” It besides references his gramps having pro-Nazi and apartheid views, a item that is absent connected Grokipedia.  

His companies and their products fare amended connected Grokipedia. On the whole, they’re importantly longer. The nonfiction connected Optimus, Tesla’s humanoid robot, is 4 times the magnitude of its Wikipedia counterpart. Neuralink’s nonfiction is triple, and Tesla’s Cybertruck is astir double. The connection is much flattering, too. The introduction covering SpaceX makes nary notation of Musk’s failed efforts to get exertion from Russia and paints its biology problems successful a overmuch much favorable airy than Wikipedia. Grokipedia’s Cybertruck leafage hardly mentions the litany of information issues oregon recalls, alternatively criticizing the media for being biased against Tesla and focusing connected outlier complaints, portion the Optimus leafage pays acold little attraction to disapproval implicit Musk’s outlandish predictions, timelines, and hype.