Wikipedia Inks AI Deals with Microsoft, Meta and Perplexity (apnews.com)

Wikipedia has announced new partnerships with major AI companies including Microsoft, Meta, and Perplexity, coinciding with its 25th anniversary. These agreements enable AI firms to access Wikipedia’s extensive content in a manner tailored to their operational needs, addressing concerns over data scraping practices that have impacted the site's traffic and server load. Wikipedia’s founder, Jimmy Wales, emphasizes the necessity for AI companies to contribute fairly to the costs of maintaining the platform, which has seen a decline in human traffic reportedly exacerbated by bots extracting data for training AI models. The Wikimedia Foundation is not only seeking to monetize this traffic but also exploring ways AI could enhance user and editor experiences, such as developing tools for updating articles or improving the search functionality with AI-driven conversational features. Wales notes that while AI isn't yet capable of creating high-quality Wikipedia content independently, there is potential for it to assist in streamlining editorial processes and providing users with more direct answers from its articles. This move marks a critical shift as Wikipedia aims to adapt to the growing demands of the AI landscape while ensuring its sustainability and integrity.