Elon Musk's AI-powered encyclopedia, Grokipedia, has been met with skepticism by academics and critics who say it promotes right-wing talking points over verifiable facts. The platform, which was launched last week, lifts content from Wikipedia but also injects its own biases and inaccuracies into the mix.
The first major indication of trouble came when renowned historian Sir Richard Evans discovered that his entry on Albert Speer, Hitler's architect, was riddled with false information. Despite Evans' corrections to the biography, Speer's entry still repeated lies and distortions from the author's own words.
Evans' experience was not an isolated incident. Experts say Grokipedia suffers from a fundamental problem in its knowledge culture - it gives equal weight to chatroom contributions as it does serious academic work. "AI just hoovers up everything," Evans said, highlighting the platform's reliance on unvetted information.
Grokipedia's entries often diverge significantly from Wikipedia's, reflecting Musk's own views and biases. The platform has been accused of promoting conspiracy theories, such as the notion that a deliberate demographic erasure of white people in Western nations is being orchestrated through mass immigration.
Critics argue that the use of AI to create an encyclopedia is inherently flawed due to its inability to verify sources or provide context. As Full Fact's head of AI, Andrew Dudfield, pointed out, "an AI-generated encyclopedia – a facsimile of reality, run through a filter – is asking for the same trust as any previous thing we have." However, it is unclear how far human involvement is involved in the creation of Grokipedia and what content the AI was trained on.
Musk's own views on Wikipedia have been well-documented. In 2021, he expressed admiration for the platform but later vowed to create his own encyclopedia if Wikipedia changed its name to "Dickipedia." The launch of Grokipedia seems to be a direct response to these comments.
Wikipedia has taken a cautious approach to the new platform, saying it is still trying to understand how Grokipedia works. However, experts warn that the platform's biases and inaccuracies pose significant challenges to its credibility.
The first major indication of trouble came when renowned historian Sir Richard Evans discovered that his entry on Albert Speer, Hitler's architect, was riddled with false information. Despite Evans' corrections to the biography, Speer's entry still repeated lies and distortions from the author's own words.
Evans' experience was not an isolated incident. Experts say Grokipedia suffers from a fundamental problem in its knowledge culture - it gives equal weight to chatroom contributions as it does serious academic work. "AI just hoovers up everything," Evans said, highlighting the platform's reliance on unvetted information.
Grokipedia's entries often diverge significantly from Wikipedia's, reflecting Musk's own views and biases. The platform has been accused of promoting conspiracy theories, such as the notion that a deliberate demographic erasure of white people in Western nations is being orchestrated through mass immigration.
Critics argue that the use of AI to create an encyclopedia is inherently flawed due to its inability to verify sources or provide context. As Full Fact's head of AI, Andrew Dudfield, pointed out, "an AI-generated encyclopedia – a facsimile of reality, run through a filter – is asking for the same trust as any previous thing we have." However, it is unclear how far human involvement is involved in the creation of Grokipedia and what content the AI was trained on.
Musk's own views on Wikipedia have been well-documented. In 2021, he expressed admiration for the platform but later vowed to create his own encyclopedia if Wikipedia changed its name to "Dickipedia." The launch of Grokipedia seems to be a direct response to these comments.
Wikipedia has taken a cautious approach to the new platform, saying it is still trying to understand how Grokipedia works. However, experts warn that the platform's biases and inaccuracies pose significant challenges to its credibility.
. Like, what's up with all the right-wing talking points? Can't he just aim for neutrality like any other encyclopedia? And honestly, who trains an AI on conspiracy theories about white demographics and immigration? Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me 
. I'm also curious about how much human involvement is in this project – are we really trusting the output of an AI that's been fed unverified info? 
It's gotta be tough to verify sources or provide context when you're just dumping all your biases and misinformation out there like confetti 
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i mean elon musk is a genius or something but come on who gives equal weight to chatroom contributions over serious academic work? 
it sounds like his own biased views are seeping into the platform which is super problematic. and what's up with wikipedia being all cautious about grokipedia? shouldn't they be like "wait a minute dude" 
this whole thing just feels like another example of how we need more fact-checking and critical thinking in our info sources. anyway i'm not giving up on grokipedia yet maybe it'll surprise me and become the most accurate encyclopedia ever lol 
. I've been using Wikipedia for years and it's always been a reliable source of info. But now I'm not so sure if Grokipedia is trustworthy 
. And the fact that Elon Musk is pushing his own views into the mix? Not good at all 
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. It's like, what's the point of having facts if they're just going to be skewed or biased? 
. And don't even get me started on the conspiracy theories 
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. Can't we just stick with what works? 
! and yeah, even a renowned historian like sir richard evans found his entry on albert speer was straight up fake news 
didn't think so 
I mean, it had its flaws, but at least it was based on actual research and evidence. Now this new AI-generated stuff is just so... uncertain. 
. I get it, AI can be flawed, but come on! Can't we at least have some kind of fact-checking process in place?
