Elon Musk’s Grokipedia Promotes Far-Right Narratives
▼ Summary
– Elon Musk’s xAI launched Grokipedia as an AI-generated alternative to Wikipedia, aiming to improve on it and advance understanding of the universe.
– The launch was delayed to remove propaganda, and initial access issues were reported by WIRED before the site became available.
– Grokipedia entries often mirror Wikipedia in tone but include conservative viewpoints and historical inaccuracies, such as justifying slavery and criticizing The 1619 Project.
– The platform centers conservative perspectives on recent events, like falsely linking pornography to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and omitting entries on topics like gay marriage.
– Entries use derogatory language, such as referring to “transgenderism” and describing trans women as “biological males” while highlighting perceived risks to women’s safety.
Elon Musk’s xAI startup has launched Grokipedia, an AI-generated encyclopedia positioned as a direct competitor to Wikipedia. The billionaire first revealed the project on his social media platform X in late September, describing it as a “massive improvement” and a necessary component of xAI’s broader mission to comprehend the universe. Musk postponed the initial release, explaining his team required extra time to eliminate what he termed “propaganda” from the system.
Upon its eventual debut, access to the Grokipedia website was initially restricted, with visitors encountering automated blocking messages. Once available for review, the platform was found to contain extensive, artificially generated articles. While many entries observed on launch day mirrored Wikipedia in their general tone and factual presentation, a significant number of prominent articles displayed a distinct editorial slant. These entries frequently promoted conservative viewpoints, criticized mainstream media outlets, and in some instances, disseminated historically inaccurate information.
One concerning example is the entry covering the enslavement of African Americans in the United States. It dedicates a section to outlining various “ideological justifications” for the practice, including the concept of a “Shift from Necessary Evil to Positive Good.” The article concludes by focusing its critique on The 1619 Project, which it accuses of incorrectly positioning slavery as the central driving force behind the nation’s political, economic, and cultural evolution.
The platform’s treatment of more contemporary subjects also places specific perspectives at the forefront. A search for “gay marriage” yielded no direct result, but the interface suggested an entry for “gay pornography” instead. This particular article makes a false assertion, claiming that the spread of pornographic material worsened the HIV/AIDS epidemic during the 1980s. The text states that behaviors depicted in such media aligned with primary virus transmission routes, supposedly leading to rapid infection rates within gay male communities.
Furthermore, the Grokipedia entry for “transgender” employs the term “transgenderism” on two occasions, a phrase often used in a derogatory manner against transgender individuals. The article also refers to trans women as “biological males” and suggests their presence has “generated significant conflicts, primarily centered on risks to women’s safety, privacy, and sex-based protections established to mitigate male-perpetrated violence.” Its introductory section singles out social media as a potential “contagion” responsible for increasing the number of people identifying as transgender. Requests for comment sent to xAI were not immediately returned.
(Source: Wired)
