Jimmy Wales Says: ‘Reading Too Much on Twitter Made Elon Musk Stupid’

Not many people would call Elon Musk “stupid”, but Jimmy Wales is one of them.

The Wikipedia founder was responding to a recent episode in which Musk objected to proposals to remove an entry related to the “Twitter Files” (Musk’s public release of company documents). Although it was never taken down, it was a revealing look at the Twitter owner’s limited understanding of Wales.

Wales told the Times of London: “I told him, ‘Reading too much on Twitter makes you stupid.’ So that’s my opinion.”

Wales distinguished between two branches of Wikipedia: the foundation, which manages the site’s operations and operating costs, and the 130,000 editors who oversee the content, who are elected and make decisions through debate.

“If Elon tweeted about us, it’s like he doesn’t understand how it all works. He seems to be an excited man,” Wallis said.

Wales was speaking in an interview to mark the 30th anniversary of the public launch of Wikipedia, which has since become the most visited resource website in history.

While the tab has recently faced accusations of left-wing bias, Wallis has described his own views as “centrist,” though he admitted to having an “obsession” with Florida Gov. and likely White House running mate Ron DeSantis, and “What a crazy man he is.”

In the UK, where he now lives, Wales is more concerned about the impact of the long-debated Online Safety Act and fears Internet Cleaner regulations will restrict children accessing Wikipedia and other websites for homework to use.

He seems more calm about the arrival of artificial intelligence and the threat it poses to Wikipedia – or not, he feels. While searching for resources to bolster wiki entries can be helpful, he doesn’t think ChatGPT will write articles. “It’s reinventing things from scratch, including references.”