Wikipedia Founder: Truth Still Matters in AI Era

Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has a message for anyone tempted to let artificial intelligence replace human knowledge: not so fast.

Speaking at the Jaipur Literature Festival, Wales defended the power of real people working together to build something trustworthy. For over 20 years, he's proven that strangers on the internet can create one of the world's most reliable resources.

Wales pushed back hard against the idea that we live in a "post-truth" world. "Truth is still incredibly important," he said, noting that people everywhere still care deeply about honesty and hate being lied to.

He's watched AI try to build encyclopedias and wasn't impressed. Wales tested Elon Musk's AI project Grok and found it filled with errors, political bias, and completely invented information about his own wife.

"AI hallucinates. It gets a lot of things wrong," Wales explained. One AI entry about his wife rambled on with wild speculation, calling it "complete nonsense" and "just random text."

The difference between Wikipedia and AI comes down to people. While AI might help Wikipedia editors sort through sources faster, Wales drew a clear line: "We don't anticipate using AI to write Wikipedia entries. It's not good enough and it's too dangerous."

Why This Inspires

Wales's faith in human collaboration offers a refreshing counter to tech hype. He believes in transparency, admitting mistakes, and trusting people to get things right together.

When institutions face declining trust, Wales said the answer isn't endless skepticism. "There are facts, and you have to get on with life," he noted. His approach: stay calm, focus on quality, and let passionate volunteers debate sources until they get it right.

Wikipedia's success proves something powerful. Millions of everyday people, checking each other's work and demanding accuracy, can build something better than the smartest AI.

Wales acknowledged that admitting mistakes publicly is hard. "It's embarrassing and it's difficult," he said. "But it's worth it for building trust."

His vision for Wikipedia's future includes small AI assists but keeps humans firmly in charge of judgment calls. Only people can truly evaluate sources and determine what's reliable.

After two decades of critics calling his idea naive, Wales has the last laugh: Wikipedia remains one of the most visited websites globally, a digital public utility built on the simple belief that truth still matters and people still care.