This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
First he went after bias at Twitter, by purchasing the company, and now Elon Musk is taking on the online behemoth Wikipedia, long known as a leftist yet influential source of information online.
Musk recently announced he has birthed Grokipedia, an AI-powered encyclopedia that won't be influenced or burdened by human gatekeepers like those of the 24-year-old Wikipedia.
Writing on X, Musk, who has criticized Wikipedia as "propaganda," said that Grokipedia.com's goal is to present the "truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth."
Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI launched Grokipedia Oct. 27.
For years, conservatives have written about the negative light with which Wikipedia portrays the movement's leaders, organization and websites. Though volunteer "editors" are to have the ability to correct bogus information, there are countless stories about corrections meant to counter left-wing bias on Wikipedia immediately being deleted or deemphasized.
WND and Washington Times columnist Robert Knight recently wrote about his experience with Wikipedia.
Woke editors routinely mischaracterize conservatives and conservative viewpoints, highlight fake science that advances climate extremism and sexual anarchy, and they even block other editors from cleaning up errors.
I know, because I registered as a Wikipedia editor years ago and tried to correct some glaring factual mistakes for a conservative think tank. …
Heavy handed editors kept overriding my corrections, saying I needed to jump through a series of hoops, including appeals to some committee. It got so tedious I gave up. Which is what they undoubtedly wanted.
While Grokipedia currently has about 900,000 articles, compared to Wikipedia's 8 million, according to Ara, the site's avatar, Grokipedia hopes to reach that many in the next "two or three years, tops."
WorldNetDaily has endured a biased and factually inaccurate listing at Wikipedia for decades now. The site's entry states:
"WND (formerly WorldNetDaily) is an American far-right news and opinion website. It is known for promoting fake news and conspiracy theories, including the false claim that former President Barack Obama was born outside the United States. … WND's political lean has been described as alt-right and far-right. WND is known for promoting fake news and conspiracy theories, including the white genocide conspiracy theory. … The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) labels WND an anti-government extremist group."
In contrast, Grokipedia has this to say about the news site:
"WorldNetDaily (WND) is an independent American online news and opinion website founded in May 1997 by Joseph Farah and Elizabeth Farah. Positioning itself as the oldest continuously operating independent Christian digital journalism organization, WND operates under the motto 'A Free Press for a Free People,' emphasizing its role as a watchdog exposing corruption in government and other power structures while advocating for virtue rooted in Judeo-Christian principles, limited government, and free-market capitalism."
Last year, WND Vice President David Kupelian contrasted the Wikipedia entry for this news site with that of the Satanic Temple:
In stark contrast to the supposed evils and failings of WorldNetDaily, The Satanic Temple is all sweetness and light, according to Wikipedia. Here's how that article starts:
"The Satanic Temple (TST) is a non-theistic organization and new religious movement, founded in 2013 and headquartered in Salem, Massachusetts. … The group views Satan neither as a supernatural being, nor a symbol of evil, but instead relies on the literary Satan as a symbol representing 'the eternal rebel' against arbitrary authority and social norms, or as a metaphor to promote pragmatic skepticism, rational reciprocity, personal autonomy, and curiosity. … The organization's mission encourages 'benevolence and empathy' among all people, using Satanic imagery to promote civil rights, egalitarianism, religious skepticism, social justice, bodily integrity, secularism, and the separation of church and state."
Wow. Who could be against "benevolence," "empathy" and "personal autonomy"? Sign me up!
Fox News host Greg Gutfeld said during a commentary on Musk's new site: "Grokipedia will do to Wikipedia what X did to Twitter," a reference to Musk's purchase and overhaul of the social media site – "expunge the bias and the lies."
Left-wing media were quick to denounce Grokipedia, with claims the site pushes "far right talking points" in line with Musk's ideology. There also are claims that Grokipedia has swiped thousands of Wikipedia entries for its own.
The Daily Dot reports some suggest that Grokipedia only features "biased, right-wing content." A user points to Grokipedia's page on ICE, which praises the federal agency's removal of illegal immigrants and cites right-leaning sources.
Many Musk detractors have looked up certain subjects and sounded an alarm about those entries' alleged "bias."
A writer in Chron asserts, "Grokipedia begins to look like a fun-house mirror version of Wikipedia.
"Pages on vaccines and climate change have been modified to include anti-vaccine and pro-fossil fuel arguments and sources. 'Transgender' repeatedly refers to transgender women as men, uses the phrase "transgenderism" (a phrase Wikipedia notes is considered derogatory), and claims that a 'social contagion' is causing people to become trans."
One X user, however, pointed out how much more nuanced the Grokipedia entry on George Floyd is:
Knight points out: "Larry Sanger, who with Jimmy Wales co-founded Wikipedia in 2001 and left a year later, has been outspoken about the search engine's unfairness, saying 'It's hopelessly biased.'
"In his 'Nine Theses' online manifesto about Wikipedia, he writes, 'Progressive activists and editors within the Democratic-Left form a de facto army that controls Wikipedia, systematically deleting criticism and reasonable, sourced edits.' …"
Knight believes the advent of Grokipedia "couldn't have come a moment too soon."
