Wikipedia & AI: Amazon, Microsoft Deals Fuel Growth

Wikipedia is forging new business agreements with several artificial intelligence companies, including Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft and France’s Mistral AI, as the online encyclopedia marks its 25th anniversary. The move aims to monetize the heavy traffic generated by AI firms accessing its content.

Wikipedia Partners with AI Companies

The Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit organization that operates Wikipedia, previously signed a deal with Google in 2022 and announced additional agreements with smaller AI companies like Ecosia last year. These new deals will allow AI companies to access Wikipedia content “at a volume and speed designed specifically for their needs,” according to the foundation, though financial details were not disclosed.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales expressed a positive view on AI training utilizing Wikipedia data, stating he prefers AI models trained on human-curated content. “I wouldn’t really want to use an AI that’s trained only on X, you know, like a very angry AI,” Wales said, referencing Elon Musk’s social media platform.

The Wikimedia Foundation urged AI developers last year to pay for access through its enterprise platform, noting an 8% decline in human traffic alongside a surge in bot traffic straining its servers. This shift reflects a broader trend of search engine AI overviews and chatbots summarizing information rather than directing users to websites.

Wikipedia currently ranks as the ninth most visited site on the internet, boasting over 65 million articles in 300 languages, edited by approximately 250,000 volunteers. While the site remains free to use, maintaining its infrastructure requires significant funding, primarily from 8 million individual donors.

Wales emphasized that donors are not intending to subsidize large AI companies, but rather to ensure the website’s stability. The Wikimedia Foundation is also exploring ways AI can benefit editors, potentially automating tasks like updating dead links and improving the search experience with chatbot-style responses.

Reflecting on Wikipedia’s origins, Wales acknowledged that early internet communities also faced issues with toxicity. The platform has recently faced criticism from political figures who accuse it of bias, prompting a congressional investigation into alleged “manipulation efforts” in its editing process. Wales dismissed Musk’s AI-powered rival, Grokipedia, as relying heavily on regurgitated Wikipedia content and lacking the quality of reference material.

Maryana Iskander will step down as Wikimedia Foundation CEO on Jan. 20, to be replaced by Bernadette Meehan.