Wikipedia's founder reveals the biggest threats facing the site

Almost 25 years and millions of articles after it launched, Wikipedia has become the biggest bank of human knowledge on the web. But Al, Elon Musk and the culture wars could change everything, says Jimmy Wales

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Few websites are as well-known as Wikipedia. The online encyclopedia was founded in 2001 by American tech entrepreneur Jimmy Wales, who, at the time, was working on a similar, expert-led project called Nupedia.

Nupedia didn't work out, but its successor, Wikipedia, has become one of the most influential sites on the internet. Today, its English-language edition alone hosts more than seven million articles.

Much has changed in the 25 years since its launch, however, both online and in the real world. Facts seemingly carry less weight when they can be easily written off as fake news, and artificial intelligence is raising questions about where information comes from and how we use it.

Wales's new book The Seven Rules of Trust, addresses some of these concerns. BBC Science Focus sat down with him to find out more about the challenges of maintaining trust.

YOU'VE CALLED SOCIAL MEDIA THE PLACE WHERE TRUST GOES TO DIE. CAN WIKIPEDIA STILL COMPETE WITH IT?

I think we can definitely compete with it. I'm not sure that I think of social media so much as competition – not for business or traffic or anything like that.

Clearly, there's a broad need for a shift away from culture wars towards a more thoughtful, reflective way of dealing with each other, accepting people with differences and having more dialogue across dividing lines.