Wikipedia announces new AI strategy but it won't sacrifice human editors

Wikimedia Foundation, which owns the popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia, said it will join the generative AI race to build tools and features that help its human volunteers, not replace them.

Wikipedia's relationship with AI is nothing new, and its massive trove of articles has served as an unparalleled dataset for training large language models. The Foundation has highlighted several areas where it will make AI investments to boost Wikipedia's volunteers.

Its upcoming changes will allow Wikipedia's moderators and patrollers to spend their time "on what they want to accomplish, and not on how to technically achieve it." For instance, automating routine and repetitive tasks that don't need human judgment or decisions.

The non-profit will use AI to improve the discoverability of information on Wikipedia, leaving extra time for human deliberation, judgment, and consensus-building. AI developments will automate translation and adaptation of common topics, helping editors share local perspectives or context.

Other than that, the Foundation will use generative AI to scale the onboarding of new Wikipedia volunteers with guided mentorship. Overall, Wikimedia has no plans to replace human curators with AI.

"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," the non-profit said.

While it's feared that AI may replace human jobs, a recent report from Google suggests using AI tools can boost productivity and help save about 122 hours per year. However, the general public seems more concerned than excited over AI's increased usage in daily life.

Wikimedia plans to implement its AI strategy over the next three years and review it annually to make adjustments as needed. One of the challenges it faces is whether to use AI for content generation or content integrity on Wikipedia, given limited resources.

The non-profit has decided to prioritize using AI to help editors ensure content integrity because new encyclopedic knowledge can only be added at a rate that editors can handle. Investing more in content generation will overwhelm their capacity. However, the balance between moderation and generation might shift over time depending on the need.

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years.

News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of March): 1,357

RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend