Elon Musk promises a more reliable encyclopedia than Wikipedia

Elon Musk confirmed Sunday on X that xAI will launch the “preliminary beta version 0.1” of Grokipedia in two weeks. The billionaire describes this project as a “considerable advance” compared to the existing collaborative encyclopedia.

This initiative, initially announced on September 30, constitutes according to Musk a necessary step towards xAI’s ultimate goal: understanding the Universe.

The concept of Grokipedia emerged during a summit organized by The All‑In Podcast in September. Musk explained that his platform will analyze a wide range of sources, including Wikipedia articles, documents, and PDFs.

The artificial intelligence Grok will then evaluate each piece of information to determine if it is true, partly true, false, or incomplete. Once the analysis is complete, the system rewrites the content to reflect what it considers the absolute truth.

David Sacks, co‑host of the podcast, then suggested turning this idea into a commercial service, a proposal Musk welcomed favorably.

Although details remain limited, Musk specified that Grokipedia will operate as an “open source knowledge repository.” This transparent approach contrasts with the accusations he regularly levels against Wikipedia. 

The billionaire thus hopes to create a credible alternative to the collaborative encyclopedia, which today has more than 60 million articles in 300 languages.

An enduring ideological conflict

The rivalry between Elon Musk and Wikipedia is not new. The Tesla co‑founder has repeatedly criticized the platform, accusing it of hosting misinformation, having politically biased editorial practices, and censoring certain information. 

In October 2023, he went as far as offering a one billion dollar donation on the condition that Wikipedia changes its name to “Dikipedia,” a provocation aimed at denouncing an alleged ideological bias.

Last week, Musk revived this joke by commenting on a post by venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya, who called Wikipedia a “mass psychological operation.” 

These tensions reflect a broader debate about the neutrality and reliability of the online encyclopedia. Larry Sanger, Wikipedia co‑founder who left the project in 2002, recently gave an interview to Tucker Carlson. He denounced the existence of an “army of administrators” who systematically block contributors with divergent opinions.

Wikipedia indeed does not escape controversies, documented on the platform itself. The participatory nature of the site generates recurring debates about the reliability and objectivity of its content. 

Grokipedia promises a different approach by relying on AI rather than human editors, although this method raises its own questions about algorithmic biases and transparency.

The launch of Grokipedia marks a new stage in the aggressive expansion of xAI. The company does not limit its ambitions to the encyclopedia sector alone. Musk also announces that an xAI game studio will release “an excellent AI‑generated game before the end of next year.” 

This rapid diversification demonstrates the entrepreneur’s strategy to position xAI as a major player in artificial intelligence, capable of competing with OpenAI across multiple markets simultaneously.