NEED TO KNOW
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Elon Musk is competing with Wikipedia by launching an AI-generated various to the web encyclopedia, referred to as Grokipedia
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The data on the service is fully generated by AI
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Grokipedia has already been accused of copying content material verbatim from Wikipedia
Elon Musk is utilizing synthetic intelligence to create a substitute for Wikipedia.
On Monday, Oct. 27, the 54-year-old billionaire launched his new web site Grokipedia, an internet encyclopedia service that’s generated fully by means of AI.
The location was launched below Musk’s AI firm xAI, which he based in 2023. The corporate can also be accountable for Grok, the AI fact-checker that Musk carried out on his social media platform X, previously Twitter.
In response to Grok, the brand new Grokipedia is “an AI-powered on-line encyclopedia designed as a extra ‘truthful’ various to Wikipedia.”
grokipedia.com
The touchdown web page for Grokipedia
Musk has been essential of Wikipedia, claiming that it is so “woke” that it needs to be known as “Wokipedia” on X.
“We’re constructing Grokipedia @xAI,” Musk introduced on Sept. 30, claiming that it could “be an enormous enchancment over Wikipedia.”
He added, “Frankly, it’s a crucial step in the direction of the xAI objective of understanding the Universe.”
On the time of publishing, Grokipedia options greater than 880,000 entries. Compared, Wikipedia has greater than 7 million entries in English alone. In contrast to Wikipedia, the place articles are written by people, entries on Grokipedia are sourced and written fully by AI.
An entry on Musk, as an example, encompasses a disclaimer that it was “fact-checked by Grok.”
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Elon Musk
It options greater than 300 sources, a number of from retailers comparable to The New York Instances and NPR. Notably, on Sept. 30, Musk laughingly reacted to a put up on X that referred to as out Wikipedia for itemizing each retailers as “dependable sources.”
Whereas customers can not edit the information, they can flag when data in entries is inaccurate.
Since launching, nevertheless, Grokipedia has been accused of replicating content material revealed on Wikipedia, NBC and different retailers reported.
In actual fact, some entries on the positioning characteristic the disclaimer that “the content material is tailored from Wikipedia, licensed below Inventive Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License.”
NBC Information famous that among the entries on Grokipedia look like verbatim copies of what’s already revealed on Wikipedia.
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Elon Musk
On X, Musk has responded to folks noting that his providers reference Wikipedia, saying that they “ought to have this mounted by finish of yr.”
Grokipedia’s launch was additionally met with another pitfalls. The web site crashed upon launching, in line with retailers together with The New York Instances and Fox Information. The latter outlet additionally famous that the discharge of the service was delayed by per week.
The Wikimedia Basis, the nonprofit group that runs Wikipedia, seems to be responding to the service. Guests to Wikipedia’s homepage on Tuesday, Oct. 28 had been greeted with a fundraising alert.
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Elon Musk
“After almost 25 years, Wikipedia continues to be the web we had been promised—created by folks, not by machines. It isn’t excellent, however it’s not right here to push a viewpoint. It is owned by a non-profit, not a large know-how firm or a billionaire,” the fundraising request learn.
“Most readers donate as a result of Wikipedia is beneficial to them, others as a result of Wikipedia is extra essential than ever,” it continued.
In a press release shared with PEOPLE, a Wikimedia Basis spokesperson mentioned that the group is “nonetheless within the strategy of understanding how Grokipedia works.”
The assertion continued: “Since 2001, Wikipedia has been the spine of information on the web. Hosted by the Wikimedia Basis, it stays the one prime web site on the planet run by a nonprofit. In contrast to newer tasks, Wikipedia’s strengths are clear: it has clear insurance policies, rigorous volunteer oversight, and a robust tradition of steady enchancment. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, written to tell billions of readers with out selling a selected viewpoint.”
“Wikipedia’s information is — and all the time will probably be — human,” the spokesperson wrote. “By way of open collaboration and consensus, folks from all backgrounds construct a impartial, dwelling document of human understanding — one which displays our range and collective curiosity. This human-created information is what AI corporations depend on to generate content material; even Grokipedia wants Wikipedia to exist.”
The group famous that there have been “experiments” prior to now that set out “to create various variations of Wikipedia,” including, “it doesn’t intrude with our work or mission.”
“As we strategy Wikipedia’s twenty fifth anniversary, Wikipedia will proceed specializing in offering free, reliable information constructed by its devoted volunteer neighborhood,” the assertion added.
PEOPLE contacted Musks’ xAI for touch upon the brand new service. xAI described the experiences as “lies.”
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