Our new AI strategy puts Wikipedia’s humans first – Diff
peter.suber's bookmarks 2025-05-01
Summary:
"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...."