xAI’s Grokipedia accused of relying on “questionable” sources

Grokipedia, the AI-powered encyclopedia developed by xAI, has been found to contain thousands of citations pointing to “questionable” and “problematic” sources.

The findings raise concerns about its reliability as an information tool, according to a new Cornell Tech report cited by AFP.

“It is clear that sourcing guardrails have largely been lifted on Grokipedia,” the researchers wrote.

The trend is particularly visible in entries about elected officials and politically sensitive topics. For example, the article on the “Clinton body count” conspiracy theory cites InfoWars, the far-right website known for spreading disinformation. Other referenced outlets include Chinese and Iranian state media, anti-immigration and anti-Muslim websites, and portals promoting pseudoscience, none of which Grokipedia identifies as unreliable.

The study also found that articles not copied from Wikipedia are 3.2 times more likely to cite sources deemed “generally unreliable” by English Wikipedia standards. The likelihood of a citation from Wikipedia’s blacklist is 13 times higher.

In response to AFP’s request for comment, xAI sent an automated reply: “Legacy Media Lies.”