Wikipedia Takes an Apparent Jab at Elon Musk, Grokipedia

Elon Musk, who has repeatedly lambasted Wikipedia, has built his own AI-powered online encyclopedia. But Wikipedia isn’t going down without a fight.

In a note asking its US users to donate money, Wikipedia said it is a human-run website uninfluenced by ideology. It also said it wasn’t owned by a billionaire, an apparent jab at Musk, who has an estimated net worth of $500 billion.

“After nearly 25 years, Wikipedia is still the internet we were promised—created by people, not by machines. It’s not perfect, but it’s not here to push a point of view,” Wikipedia said. “It’s owned by a non-profit, not a giant technology company or a billionaire.”

Wikipedia has built its vast database from human volunteers who write articles for its site. Musk’s Grokipedia, developed under xAI, relies on the Grok large language model to generate and edit articles.

It’s unclear when this specific note first appeared on Wikipedia’s website, but the platform is displaying it the same week Musk launched Grokipedia. Wikipedia often runs fundraising campaigns on its website.

Version 0.1 of Grokipedia officially launched on Monday, touting access to 885,279 articles.

Some users have noticed errors on the site. A Grokipedia post viewed on Tuesday by Business Insider reporters said former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy took on a significant role in DOGE after Musk’s departure. Ramaswamy left DOGE about four months before Musk’s exit in May.

Musk’s AI chatbot, Grok, has had its own problems responding to user inquiries. In July, Grok shared several antisemitic posts, including at least two that praised Adolf Hitler. xAI later apologized for Grok’s “horrific behavior,” saying it was caused by a code update.

Musk teased Grokipedia in an X post last month, writing that the AI-powered encyclopedia “will be a massive improvement over Wikipedia.”

“Frankly, it is a necessary step towards the xAI goal of understanding the Universe,” Musk wrote.

Representatives for Wikimedia, the nonprofit that hosts Wikipedia, did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.