The Wikimedia Foundation, which oversees Wikipedia, is issuing a clarion call to artificial intelligence (AI) developers. The online encyclopedia requires its content to be used “responsibly” and for companies to access it through the Wikimedia Enterprise platform, a paid product. The foundation made this move to ensure the website remains financially supported despite declining internet traffic in the AI ​​era.

Wikipedia in Trouble with AI

A recent blog post specifically emphasized the need for AI developers to properly cite contributions. This paid, optional platform allows companies to use Wikipedia content at scale and in a structured manner.

It also prevents the platform’s servers from becoming overloaded. The commercial service’s paid nature allows AI companies to financially support the nonprofit’s mission.

Wikipedia hasn’t mentioned any threats of legal action or penalties, but it recently made a striking observation public. The foundation determined that AI bots were scraping large amounts of data from their sites by attempting to impersonate humans.

After updating their bot detection systems, they determined that the unusual traffic increase seen in May and June was due to AI bots evading detection. Meanwhile, human-generated page views were down 8 percent year-over-year.

The foundation is now establishing strict guidelines for AI developers. Productive AI systems must cite contributing authors and editors when using Wikipedia content.