Wikipedia marks its 25th anniversary this year. The free online encyclopedia has become an indispensable part of our digital lives. People use it to settle arguments, research topics, and even play games. Its journey from a bold idea to a global resource reveals fascinating tensions about knowledge, technology, and community.
The Founding Vision: Two Men, One Project, Divergent Paths
Wikipedia launched on January 15, 2001. It was created by Jimmy Wales, an internet entrepreneur, and Larry Sanger, a philosopher who served as its first editor-in-chief. Their partnership lasted just over a year, but their differing philosophies continue to influence Wikipedia today.
Jimmy Wales envisioned a radically open platform. He wanted every person on Earth to have free access to the sum of all human knowledge. Larry Sanger supported openness but expressed deep skepticism. He questioned whether such a model could ever guarantee true neutrality without expert oversight.
From Library Stacks to Community Clicks
Before Wikipedia, knowledge was often locked behind physical barriers. People relied on libraries, expensive encyclopedias, and academic institutions. Wikipedia flipped this model entirely. It allowed anyone with an internet connection to create or edit articles. This shift moved authority from a few experts to a vast, decentralized community of volunteers.
The growth was explosive. The English Wikipedia had about 25,000 articles by 2002. It crossed one million entries by 2006. Today, it boasts over seven million articles. More than 300 language editions exist, each maintained by separate communities of editors.
Core Principles and Community Governance
No single person owns a Wikipedia article. All contributions must follow three core principles: neutrality, verifiability, and reliance on reputable sources. Editors debate changes on dedicated talk pages. They work to reach consensus. Serious disputes go to a community-run Arbitration Committee.
Jimmy Wales believes this model builds a global commons of knowledge. He told The Guardian in 2025, "Wikipedia is not a very comfortable place for extremists. If you want to rant and be super biased, then go on, write your own blog." For him, neutrality comes from sticking to facts. The article on Adolf Hitler, for example, does not need to rant against him. Simply listing his actions creates a damning record.
Larry Sanger, who helped draft the early neutrality guidelines, holds a different view. He argues openness alone cannot prevent bias. He told DW that true neutrality requires subject-matter experts who are themselves committed to neutrality. He has also claimed that Wikipedia's editor base tends to be "global, academic, secular, progressive," which shapes its content.
Persistent Challenges: Gender Gaps and AI Doom Spirals
Wikipedia faces significant representation issues. The Wikimedia Foundation acknowledges that only 10–20% of its active contributors are women. Entire categories of notable women and their works are missing. This gap spurred the 2015 "Women in Red" initiative to create more biographies of women.
Each language edition develops independently. An article available in Hindi might not exist in English, and vice versa. Tools like Wikidelta help map these knowledge gaps across languages.
Now, artificial intelligence presents a new threat. Large language models (LLMs) are trained heavily on Wikipedia's content. AI-generated text and translations are flowing back into smaller Wikipedia editions. The Greenlandic edition experienced a "doom spiral" in 2025. It was flooded with error-ridden AI content. The site's sole editor requested its closure, citing risks to the Greenlandic language.
Cultural Impact and a New AI Challenger
Wikipedia's influence extends far beyond research. Its "citation needed" tag has become a popular meme for dubious claims. Games like Wikiracing turn the encyclopedia into a sport. Players race from one article to another using only hyperlinks.
Fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg once joked to Jimmy Wales, "We all use Wikipedia more often than we pee." This comment captures its deep integration into daily life.
Yet, this ubiquity does not guarantee invincibility. In 2025, Elon Musk's company xAI launched Grokipedia. This AI-generated encyclopedia is built on the Grok large language model. It debuted with nearly 885,000 articles. Musk calls it a "truthful and independent alternative" to what he labels "Wokipedia," accusing Wikipedia of extreme left-wing bias.
Some Grokipedia entries are fully generated by AI. Others are copied from Wikipedia, with minor edits or verbatim reproduction. Larry Sanger sees this as a pivotal shift. He told DW that for the first time, users can talk to an LLM that directly edits an encyclopedia. "You're not submitting the edit to a human being. You're submitting it to a machine controlled by a corporation," he noted, highlighting the speed advantage.
Sanger believes Grokipedia could eventually surpass Wikipedia in quality. Jimmy Wales remains skeptical. Speaking to Reuters in late 2025, he questioned whether large language models can produce reliable encyclopedic content. The competitive threat, he suggested, is still unproven.
As Wikipedia enters its next quarter-century, it stands at a crossroads. It must balance its founding ideals of open collaboration with the pressures of modern technology. The rise of AI and internal debates about expertise will shape its future as the internet's primary repository of free knowledge.
