Blog by Chris Albon and Leila Zia: “Not too long ago, we were asked when we’re going to replace Wikipedia’s human-curated knowledge with AI.
The answer? We’re not.
The community of volunteers behind Wikipedia is the most important and unique element of Wikipedia’s success. For nearly 25 years, Wikipedia editors have researched, deliberated, discussed, built consensus, and collaboratively written the largest encyclopedia humankind has ever seen. Their care and commitment to reliable encyclopedic knowledge is something AI cannot replace.
That is why our new AI strategy doubles down on the volunteers behind Wikipedia.
We will use AI to build features that remove technical barriers to allow the humans at the core of Wikipedia to spend their valuable time on what they want to accomplish, and not on how to technically achieve it. Our investments will be focused on specific areas where generative AI excels, all in the service of creating unique opportunities that will boost Wikipedia’s volunteers:
- Supporting Wikipedia’s moderators and patrollers with AI-assisted workflows that automate tedious tasks in support of knowledge integrity;
- Giving Wikipedia’s editors time back by improving the discoverability of information on Wikipedia to leave more time for human deliberation, judgment, and consensus building;
- Helping editors share local perspectives or context by automating the translation and adaptation of common topics;
- Scaling the onboarding of new Wikipedia volunteers with guided mentorship.
You can read the Wikimedia Foundation’s new AI strategy over on Meta-Wiki…(More)”.
