Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

Jimmy Wales: The Seven Rules of Trust

Nov 8, 2025
In a riveting discussion, Jimmy Wales, the visionary founder of Wikipedia, delves into building trust amidst an era of misinformation. He shares insights from his book, The Seven Rules of Trust, emphasizing that a clear purpose drives Wikipedia's credibility. Wales addresses challenges in maintaining neutrality and managing edit wars while tackling the erosion of trust in institutions. He reveals how community integrity is essential for Wikipedia’s growth and contrasts it with the limitations of AI, promoting a future where human contributions nourish trust on the open web.
Ask episode
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
INSIGHT

Purpose Creates Predictable Trust

  • Purpose anchors decisions and builds trust by making outcomes predictable.
  • Wikipedia's clear aim — a free, neutral encyclopedia for everyone — made the project boringly reliable and thus trusted.
ADVICE

Follow Three Core Content Rules

  • Use neutral point of view, reliable sources, and no original research as strict content rules.
  • Require published sources and avoid publishing unverified theories to maintain credibility.
INSIGHT

Neutrality Enables Collaboration

  • Neutrality enables people with opposing beliefs to collaborate productively.
  • Framing positions as descriptions of viewpoints preserves civility and produces articles both sides can accept.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
Get the app