AI chatbots like ChatGPT are using info from Elon Musks Grokipedia, report reveals
When Elon Musk's Grokipedia isn't just copying Wikipedia word-for-word, it's spreading falsehoods about the AIDS epidemic, justifying slavery, and citing white supremacist websites.
Now, at least two of the biggest AI chatbots, OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude, are reportedly citing Grokipedia as sources in their answers to user prompts.
According to a new report from the Guardian, the outlet found that ChatGPT, powered by OpenAI's latest GPT 5.2 model, cited Grokipedia in answering questions related to Iran and other topics. In one instance, ChatGPT cited Grokipedia to provide debunked claims about Sir Richard Evans, a British historian who was the lead expert witness against Holocaust denier David Irving at his 2000 libel trial.
The report also found that ChatGPT wasn't the only AI chatbot pulling information from Musk's Grokipedia. Anthropic's Claude was also citing Grokipedia for certain queries.
OpenAI told the Guardian that ChatGPT's web search "aims to draw from a broad range of publicly available sources and viewpoints.” The company also said it applies "safety filters to reduce the risk of surfacing links associated with high-severity harms" and that ChatGPT clearly cites the sources it uses for its responses to users.
Security experts have pointed out that AI models can be manipulated into sharing disinformation and falsehoods through tactics like "LLM Grooming." While it's unclear if there's any third-party maliciousness behind ChatGPT and Claude's usage of Grokipedia as a source, the Guardian notes that it's certainly concerning.
Grokipedia is powered by Elon Musk's AI company xAI and its AI chatbot Grok. Grok has had its own issues on Musk's social media platform X where last summer it started praising Hitler and referring to itself as "MechaHitler." In a separate incident months earlier, Grok started replying to every query on X with right wing conspiracies about "white genocide" in South Africa.
Musk created Grokipedia as an alternative to Wikipedia, which Musk has criticized in recent years. However, Grokipedia has quickly become a source for falsehoods and disinformation on politically-charged topics.
Musk, himself, has delved further into far-right-wing ideology that goes beyond even his financial support of President Donald Trump. Just weeks ago, Grokipedia's founder Elon Musk shared an image on X that painted the apartheid state of Rhodesia, now known as Zimbabwe, in a positive light.
Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.