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Jimmy Wales chatted with Heather Pony at the Edinburgh book festival 2026.. Wales is one of the top 250 leaders who shape our world. He said he started with Newpedia, which didn’t succeed.
Then the idea for a free encyclopaedia that people could trust, and that people can edit. Wikipedia was set up in 2001, as a charity when there was the hopeful world of the internet. Wikipedia now has 700 employees, and is based in San Francisco.
He spoke of his Triangle of Trust – empathy, authenticity, logic. “We don’t use algorithms.”
The Five Rules of Wikipedia – the wiki foundation and the identification of best practice.
Plus Quality, reliable source, Neutrality, Transparency, We always could do better. We must offer the best arguments, analyse things.
He spoke of the attacks from the Far Right. Elon Musk set up Rockopedia which failed – and which encourages extremes.
Wales was asked could AI write Wikipedia? No not good enough yet and can make things up. AI is deeply flawed. AI can be useful for references. AI agents editing. CHATGpt and AI can help with coding. AI is not edited and Google AI is wrong 28% of the time. Google is a monopoly.
Wiki Traffic has had a 8% drop, with a 7% drop in revenue. Many now want quick answers. Plus a decline in first time editors. Wales spoke of Wiki’s Long form traffic.
Wikipedia depends on donations, and has no Ads. Wiki is like a life raft, of trust and Wales said they work to make it better. He said that Disinformation is a problem and requires content and government regulation.
Wikipedia is banned in China, And in Turkey Wiki fought in the courts and won. In the Western world its important to have free dialogue – with diverse, open, free discourse in society. Wales spoke of the ownership of the media by Big tech. Jeff Bezo bought the Washington Post. Rupert Murdoch bought the Wall Street Journal. Newspapers endorse a candidate.
