Wikipedia Inks Major AI Partnerships on 25th Anniversary
The Wikimedia Foundation made a significant announcement on January 15. The non-profit organization revealed it has signed artificial intelligence deals with several prominent AI companies. This news coincides with the 25th anniversary of the foundation, which operates the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia.
Who Are the New Partners?
According to reports, the new agreements involve leading firms in the AI space. The list includes Amazon, the French company Mistral AI, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Perplexity. These deals follow an earlier partnership with Google established in 2022 and other arrangements with smaller players like Ecosia in 2025.
The Wikimedia Foundation is the parent entity of Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a massive, crowdsourced repository of free knowledge on the internet.
Why This Move Matters Now
This development arrives at a critical time for Wikipedia. In 2024, the platform reported an 8% decline in human pageviews. This drop is largely attributed to the rise of generative AI. Search engines now often provide AI-generated answers directly, reducing the number of users clicking through to source websites like Wikipedia.
The foundation had previously noted that evolving internet trends and sophisticated bot traffic are changing how people globally access information. Wikipedia stands as one of the last bastions of the early internet's idealistic vision. That vision of a free online space has been challenged by the dominance of Big Tech and AI systems that scrape web content for training.
A major question looms over the AI boom: who pays for it? AI developers use aggressive data collection methods, often drawing from vast free repositories like Wikipedia. This new initiative represents Wikipedia's effort to secure compensation for that usage.
Details of the AI Deals
The new agreements are significant for Wikipedia's future. They will help the platform monetize the heavy traffic it receives from AI companies. These firms are paying for access to Wikipedia content. The access is provided at a volume and speed specifically designed for their needs, the foundation stated. Financial details of the deals were not disclosed.
While AI training has sparked legal battles over copyright elsewhere, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales expressed support. "I'm very happy personally that AI models are training on Wikipedia data because it’s human curated," Wales told The Associated Press. He contrasted this with training on other platforms, humorously noting he wouldn't want an AI trained only on a platform like X, calling that a "very angry AI."
Wales emphasized that Wikipedia wants to collaborate with AI companies, not block them. However, he stressed a fair principle: "you should probably chip in and pay for your fair share of the cost that you’re putting on us."
The Challenge of Bots and Infrastructure Costs
The Wikimedia Foundation last year urged AI developers to pay for access via its enterprise platform. This call came as human traffic fell by that notable 8%. Simultaneously, visits from bots—sometimes disguised—heavily taxed Wikipedia's servers. These bots scrape massive amounts of content to feed large language models.
These findings highlight a shift in online behavior. Search engine AI overviews and chatbots now summarize information directly, often bypassing the traditional model of sending users to source websites via links.
Wikipedia is the ninth most visited site on the internet. It hosts over 65 million articles in 300 languages, maintained by roughly 250,000 volunteers. The site's popularity stems from being free for anyone to use.
"But our infrastructure is not free, right?" questioned Wikimedia Foundation CEO Maryana Iskander in an interview from Johannesburg. She noted that maintaining servers and infrastructure costs money. This infrastructure allows both individuals and tech companies to draw data from Wikipedia. Iskander is stepping down on January 20 and will be succeeded by Bernadette Meehan.
The bulk of Wikipedia's funding comes from 8 million donors, most of whom are individuals. "They're not donating in order to subsidize these huge AI companies," Wales stated. The sentiment from donors, he explained, is that AI companies cannot just overwhelm the website; they must engage "in the right way."
AI as a Tool for Improvement
AI also presents opportunities for Wikipedia. The foundation has outlined an AI strategy. Wales said this could lead to tools that reduce tedious work for editors. While AI isn't yet capable of writing high-quality Wikipedia entries from scratch, it could assist in practical ways.
For example, AI could be used to update dead links. It would scan the surrounding text and search online to find alternative sources. "We don’t have that yet but that’s the kind of thing that I think we will see in the future," Wales added.
Artificial intelligence could also transform the Wikipedia search experience. It could evolve from a simple keyword search to a more conversational, chatbot-style interaction. "You can imagine a world where you can ask the Wikipedia search box a question and it will quote to you from Wikipedia," Wales envisioned. The system could respond by providing the answer and citing the specific paragraph from an article. "That sounds really useful to me and so I think we’ll move in that direction as well," he said.
Reflections and Current Challenges
Reflecting on Wikipedia's early days, Wales described a thrilling time of great excitement and possibility. However, he acknowledged that era had a dark side too, with online toxicity existing well before modern algorithms.
Today, Wikipedia faces criticism from some political quarters. Figures on the political right have dubbed it "Wokepedia," accusing it of left-leaning bias. Republican lawmakers in the U.S. Congress are investigating alleged "manipulation efforts" in Wikipedia's editing process. They claim this could inject bias into the platform and the AI systems that rely on its data.
A notable critic is Elon Musk. He launched his own AI-powered platform, Grokipedia, last year. Musk has criticized Wikipedia for containing "propaganda" and urged people to stop donating to the site.
Wales said he does not consider Grokipedia a "real threat" to Wikipedia. He argued that large language models, which Grokipedia relies on, are not yet good enough to produce high-quality reference material. "A lot of it is just regurgitated Wikipedia," he stated. "It often is quite rambling and sort of talks nonsense. And I think the more obscure topic you look into, the worse it is." He clarified this was a general comment on large language models, not solely a criticism of Grokipedia.
Wales mentioned he has known Musk for years but they haven't been in touch since Grokipedia launched. "I should probably ping him," Wales mused. What would he say? "'How’s your family?' I’m a nice person, I don’t really want to pick a fight with anybody."
Key Takeaways
- Wikipedia is actively monetizing its vast content through partnerships with major AI companies like Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft.
- The move addresses the need for compensation as AI firms extensively use Wikipedia's data for training their models.
- AI technology presents a dual challenge: it reduces direct human traffic but also offers tools to improve editing and the user search experience.
- Debates over Wikipedia's neutrality and bias continue, amid political scrutiny and the emergence of alternative platforms like Grokipedia.
- The foundation emphasizes that while its content is free, maintaining the infrastructure that supports both human users and AI companies comes at a significant cost.
