Tech billionaire Elon Musk came under fire this year for a gesture that drew comparisons to a Nazi salute at President Donald Trump’s second-term inauguration and promoting spurious claims of white genocide in South Africa on his social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
But if you looked him up on Grokipedia, his new AI-generated alternative to Wikipedia, you wouldn’t know that.
Musk launched Grokipedia on Monday after prominent conservatives like tech entrepreneur David Sacks and media personality Tucker Carlson, as well as Musk himself, railed against Wikipedia for purportedly being ideologically biased. Carlson, in an interview with ousted Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger, called the site “completely dishonest and completely controlled on questions that matter.” Sanger has argued that entries related to issues like crime and climate change on Wikipedia are not politically neutral and called for specific reforms to the site, fuelling criticisms from the right that the site is biased towards the left.
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“We are building Grokipedia @xAI. Will be a massive improvement over Wikipedia,” Musk posted on X on Sept. 29. “Frankly, it is a necessary step towards the xAI goal of understanding the Universe.”
Wikipedia, which launched in 2001, is an online crowdsourced encyclopedia that consists of entries written and edited by volunteers. The site is supported by the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation, which employs automated bots and human moderators to prevent vandalism, resolve disputes, and ensure content follows a core set of policies, like maintaining a neutral point of view and providing verifiable sources for information. But anyone, even anonymously, can contribute articles or edits, subject to a system of moderation and discussion.
Several studies have looked at potential political bias across Wikipedia, according to the Washington Post, with some finding a moderate leftward tilt and others finding it to be politically center, in the context of American politics. Some studies suggest that over time, articles become more neutral due to community revisions.
“It is an encyclopedia that relies on underlying sources, that gets fixed in real time, and that is constantly changing, and the sources are constantly changing,” Maryana Iskander, the Wikimedia Foundation’s chief executive, told the Post. “There’s no bias on Wikipedia if one understands how it works.”
Grokipedia, on the other hand, uses the large language model that powers Grok, an AI chatbot developed by Musk’s company xAI that is integrated into X. It is not yet clear what sources Grokipedia draws from. Some have wondered whether the site accesses X social media posts, while others have suggested that some articles copy Wikipedia entries word-for-word. (Almost all AI systems are trained on Wikipedia knowledge, which is free to license.) Grokipedia, like Wikipedia, includes citations for its statements, but several users have pointed out claims with inaccurate citations.
Grokipedia v0.1, as Musk called the version that launched on Monday, has around 885,000 articles as of Tuesday, as compared to Wikipedia’s over 8 million. “Version 1.0 will be 10X better,” Musk posted on X, “but even at 0.1 it’s better than Wikipedia imo.”
Critics have argued that the new site is ideologically biased towards the right, especially as Musk has in the past tweaked Grok to push far-right talking points. Grokipedia was initially meant to launch on Oct. 20, but was postponed as Musk said, “We need to do more work to purge out the propaganda.”
Observers have already noted some stark differences between the pages on Wikipedia and Grokipedia for topics like gender, Jan. 6, and Donald Trump. Take, for example, how Musk himself is described.
While Grokipedia’s article about its creator charts his career in broad brushstrokes that appear similar to Wikipedia’s, at points it describes him in rapturous terms while downplaying, or even omitting, several of his controversies.
According to Grokipedia, “Musk’s public persona blends innovative visionary with irreverent provocateur.” His engagement with followers on X, Grokipedia says, “fosters an image of accessibility and cultural fluency, using memes as marketing tools and performative gestures—like saluting flags or AI-generated content—to rally supporters, though critics attribute it to echo-chamber dynamics and impulsivity. His unfiltered style, including jokes about private matters and rapid-fire commentary, contrasts traditional CEO restraint, positioning him as a meme-lord billionaire who leverages social media for influence beyond business.”
Describing Musk’s talking points, which have veered over the years towards far-right conspiracy, Grokipedia says, “Musk has influenced broader debates on technological progress, demographic decline, and institutional biases, often via X, where his ownership has prioritized content moderation reforms amid criticisms from legacy media outlets that exhibit systemic left-leaning tilts in coverage. His endorsements, including support for political figures advocating deregulation, have amplified discussions on innovation policy, though they have drawn scrutiny for potential conflicts with his government-dependent ventures like SpaceX’s NASA contracts.”
By comparison, Wikipedia calls Musk a “supporter of global far-right figures, causes, and political parties” whose “political activities, views, and statements have made him a polarizing figure, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic. He has been criticized for making unscientific and misleading statements, including COVID-19 misinformation and promoting conspiracy theories, and affirming antisemitic, racist, and transphobic comments. His acquisition of Twitter was controversial due to a subsequent increase in hate speech and the spread of misinformation on the service. His role in the second Trump administration attracted public backlash, particularly in response to DOGE.”
Although Grokipedia has a section titled “Controversies and Criticisms,” it fails to mention some of Musk’s more notable controversies, including Musk’s straight-arm salute in January.
Grokipedia also entirely omits mentions of Musk’s maternal grandfather Joshua N. Haldeman, whom some have said inspired Musk. Haldeman promoted far-right anti-government, antisemitic views and was a supporter of South African apartheid and Nazism, according to Musk’s father Errol Musk. The site also does not mention Musk’s promotion of false claims of “white genocide” in South Africa earlier this year.
Wikipedia says Musk “has promoted conspiracy theories and made controversial statements that have led to accusations of racism, sexism, antisemitism, transphobia, disseminating disinformation, and support of white pride.” Grokipedia does not reference those statements or criticisms, nor does it mention condemnation of his views as antisemitic by the Anti-Defamation League.
Grokipedia includes more detailed descriptions of Musk’s views, including the idea of a “woke mind virus,” which Musk claimed “killed” his estranged transgender daughter, who is alive.
Grokipedia also contains some erroneous statements. It writes that after Musk left the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in May, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy took on “a more prominent role” at the agency. But in actuality, Ramaswamy quit DOGE in January in order to run for governor of Ohio, before the agency even took shape as part of the Trump Administration. And after Musk left DOGE, initially nominally headed by former healthcare executive Amy Gleason, operates primarily through staffers in cost-cutting positions spread across government departments and agencies.
Grokipedia also includes a section about Musk’s health and lifestyle: “Musk maintains a demanding schedule, typically sleeping six hours per night, going to bed between 1 and 3 a.m. and waking around 9 a.m., a pattern he adjusted from longer workdays to prioritize recovery while managing multiple companies. His diet includes occasional indulgences like morning donuts and multiple Diet Cokes daily, supplemented by intermittent fasting that contributed to a reported 20-pound weight loss, though he avoids eating or drinking alcohol two to three hours before bed to optimize sleep. Exercise-wise, he favors weightlifting and strength training over cardio like running, which he dislikes, aiming for consistency to sustain energy amid 80-100-hour workweeks that often extend into weekends.” Grokipedia briefly mentions Musk’s admission of use of ketamine, though it does not detail his reported use of cocaine, marijuana, and other drugs, which Wikipedia does.
In response to TIME’s request for comment, xAI said, in what appeared to be an automated email response, “Legacy Media Lies.”