Gizmodo: An Unbothered Jimmy Wales Calls Grokipedia a ‘Cartoon Imitation’ of Wikipedia. “While speaking at India’s AI Impact Summit in New Delhi this week, Wikipedia co-founder and spokesperson Jimmy Wales was asked about the threat the site faced from Grokipedia and its ilk. Unbothered, he dismissed the xAI project as ‘a cartoon imitation of an encyclopedia.’ Wales went on to champion […]

Le premier ouvrage de Jimmy Wales va bientôt sortir en France (04/02). Il est également possible de le lire dans d'autres langues.

#Wikipedia #Livre #JimmyWales

“A Wikipedia article is a process, not a product”*…

A quarter of a century ago Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia‘s founder, articulated its vision– one into which it has impressively grown: “Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That’s what we’re doing.”

On the ocassion of its birthday this month, Caitlin Dewey takes stock…

Happy birthday to Wikipedia, which is now old enough to rent a car without extra charges … but faces new (and newly urgent) threats from AI and political polarization. As a palate cleanser, should those bum you out (the second, in particular, is very grim/good), may I then suggest this “entirely non-comprehensive list of life principles” learned from 20 years of editing Wikipedia. [Scientific American / Financial Times / The Wikipedian]…

From her wonderful newsletter, Links I Would Gchat You If We Were Friends. All three are eminently worth reading.

* Clay Shirky, who went on to observe that “Wikipedia is forcing people to accept the stone-cold bummer that knowledge is produced and constructed by argument rather than by divine inspiration,” but at the same time that: “We have lived in this world where little things are done for love and big things for money. Now we have Wikipedia. Suddenly big things can be done for love.”

###

As we treasure– and support— treasures, we might recall that it was on this date in 1885 that LaMarcus Adna Thompson received the first patent for a true “switchback railroad”– or , as we know it, a roller coaster.  Thompson had designed the ride in 1881, and opened it on Coney Island in 1884.  (The “hot dog” had been invented, also at Coney Island, in 1867, so was available to trouble the stomachs of the very first coaster riders.)

Wikipedia may be the largest compendium of human knowledge ever created, but can it survive?

As the website turns 25, it faces myriad challenges from regulators, AI, the far right and Elon Musk.

https://mediafaro.org/article/20260115-wikipedia-may-be-the-largest-compendium-of-human-knowledge-ever-created-but-can-it-survive?mf_channel=mastodon&action=forward

#Wikipedia #Tech #JimmyWales #Wikimedia #AI #Knowledge #FarRight #ElonMusk

"#Wikipedia inks #AI deals with #Microsoft, #Meta and #Perplexity as it marks 25th birthday."
https://apnews.com/article/wikipedia-internet-jimmy-wales-50e796d70152d79a2e0708846f84f6d7

From #JimmyWales: "I’m very happy personally that AI models are training on Wikipedia data because it’s human curated. I wouldn’t really want to use an AI that’s trained only on X, you know, like a very angry AI… But you [AI companies] should probably chip in and pay for your fair share of the cost that you’re putting on us.”

"[Jimmy] Wales’ book, The Seven Rules of Trust, released in October, tells the tale of Wikipedia’s origins and how the project highlights lessons in earning and maintaining trust. Wales spoke to Nature about the importance of scientific transparency and the rise of artificial intelligence."

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00083-0

#JimmyWales #Wikipedia #Books #Interview

‘We’re humans — brilliant and a mess’: #Wikipedia founder #JimmyWales on trust and optimism
Twenty-five years after its launch, the online encyclopedia now competes with chatbots — but its creator still has faith in humans when it comes to sourcing facts.
Jimmy Wales thinks the model of the free online encyclopaedia still makes sense.
By Nicola Jones
En Nature

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00083-0