Grokipedia: Elon Musk’s AI – Generated Encyclopedia and Its Controversies

On Monday, Elon Musk’s xAI startup introduced Grokipedia. The billionaire positions this as an AI – generated alternative to the crowdsourced encyclopedia, Wikipedia. Musk first made the announcement of this project in late September on his social media platform, X. He claimed that Grokipedia would represent “a substantial improvement over Wikipedia” and is “an essential step towards the xAI goal of comprehending the Universe.”

Last week, Musk disclosed that the launch of Grokipedia had been postponed. His team, he stated, needed “to conduct more work to eliminate propaganda.” When Grokipedia was eventually launched on Monday, WIRED initially encountered difficulties accessing the website and received an automated message indicating it was blocked.

Upon finally gaining access, WIRED discovered that this online encyclopedia consisted of extensive entries generated by AI. While many of the pages WIRED viewed on the launch day seemed relatively similar to Wikipedia in terms of tone and content, several notable Grokipedia entries were distinct. These entries criticized the mainstream media, emphasized conservative viewpoints, and at times, propagated historical inaccuracies.

Specific Entries and Their Content

African – American Slavery in the US

The Grokipedia entry regarding the slavery of African Americans in the US features a section that details numerous “ideological justifications” for slavery, including the “Shift from Necessary Evil to Positive Good.” The conclusion of this entry focuses on criticisms of The 1619 Project, asserting that it inaccurately framed “slavery as the central driving force behind the nation’s political, economic, and cultural development.”

Recent Historical Events

Entries related to more recent historical events center around conservative perspectives. For instance, when WIRED searched for “gay marriage” in Grokipedia, no entry was found. Instead, one of the on – screen suggestions was “gay pornography.” The Grokipedia entry for “gay pornography” falsely states that the spread of porn exacerbated the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. It claims, “This marked the onset of what would become a devastating crisis disproportionately affecting gay male communities, where behaviors idealized in pornography—such as unprotected receptive anal intercourse and multiple anonymous partners—aligned directly with primary transmission routes, leading to rapid seroconversion rates.”

Transgender

The Grokipedia entry for “transgender” mentions “transgenderism” twice, a term frequently used to belittle transgender individuals. The entry also refers to trans women as “biological males” and claims that they have “generated significant conflicts, primarily centered on risks to women’s safety, privacy, and sex – based protections established to mitigate male – perpetrated violence.” The opening section highlights social media as a potential “contagion” that is increasing the number of transgender people.

WIRED Magazine

The Grokipedia entry for WIRED magazine references Musk’s own criticism of the publication. It states, “High – profile detractors, including Elon Musk in February 2025, have labeled Wired as devolving into ‘far – left wing propaganda,’ arguing it abandoned technology – focused reporting for ideologically driven narratives that normalize heavy – handed oversight of private enterprise.” Grokipedia further claims that WIRED is representative of the “mainstream media’s systemic leftward lean.”

Donald Trump

The entry for US president Donald Trump also takes a jab at the media for its alleged “left – leaning bias” in covering the ongoing federal government shutdown. It accuses CNN and The New York Times of “amplifying shutdown narratives that attribute blame primarily to Republicans despite bipartisan failures.” (Neither CNN nor The New York Times immediately responded to requests for comment.)

Word Count and Search Suggestions

Grokipedia entries are quite extensive in terms of word count. The Grokipedia entry for “Elon Musk” is nearly 11,000 words, has over 300 website references, and includes sections such as “Criticisms of Regulation and Woke Culture” and “Advocacy for Multiplanetary Life and Population Growth.” In contrast, Musk’s Wikipedia entry is less than 8,000 words.

Grokipedia’s suggested search terms related to Elon Musk include “Elon Musk (disambiguation)” and “Elon Musk filmography.” When searching Grokipedia for OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Monday, the top suggestion was “Removal of Sam Altman from OpenAI,” referring to the brief incident in 2023 when Altman was temporarily removed by OpenAI’s board of directors before being reinstated as CEO.

xAI did not promptly respond to a request for comment.