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The Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit organization behind Wikipedia, has unveiled its AI roadmap for the next three years, and reassuringly, it does not involve replacing its community of editors and volunteers with artificial intelligence.
Instead, the Foundation plans to harness AI to create new tools and features aimed at eliminating technical obstacles. The goal is to empower editors, moderators, and patrollers, allowing them to focus on their essential work without getting bogged down by technical complexities.
At a time when AI’s growing capabilities are raising concerns about potential job losses in creative and content-driven fields, Wikipedia is taking a different route. The organization emphasized that artificial intelligence will be used to assist human contributors rather than replace them.
Enhancing Editorial Workflows with AI Assistance
According to the Wikimedia Foundation, one of the primary uses of AI will be to build AI-assisted workflows. These new tools are designed to automate repetitive, tedious tasks that often slow down editors. By streamlining such processes, volunteers can dedicate more time to human-centred activities, such as building consensus for new articles, debating updates, and ensuring factual accuracy.
In addition to task automation, Wikipedia will deploy AI to enhance the discoverability of information across its platform. By making it easier to find and manage content, the AI tools will give editors more bandwidth for complex discussions and thoughtful edits.
AI to Support Translation and Volunteer Onboarding
Another area where the Wikimedia Foundation sees promise is in translation services. AI will be leveraged to simplify and automate the translation of Wikipedia content, enabling broader accessibility for users worldwide and supporting Wikipedia’s commitment to multilingualism.
Furthermore, AI tools will aid in onboarding new volunteers, helping newcomers familiarize themselves with the editing process, guidelines, and community norms. This ensures that Wikipedia continues to grow its global network of contributors while maintaining high-quality standards.
Wikipedia’s Human-Centred Approach to AI Development
Chris Albon, Director of Machine Learning at the Wikimedia Foundation, and Leila Zia, Director and Head of Research, outlined the organization’s values in a blog post announcing the new AI strategy. They emphasized that Wikipedia’s approach will always prioritize human agency and respect for long-standing principles such as privacy, transparency, and human rights.
“Our future work with AI will succeed not only because of what we do but how we do it,” Albon and Zia wrote. They further committed to using open-source or open-weight AI solutions wherever possible, ensuring a transparent and accessible development process.
Keeping Wikipedia’s Mission Alive in the Age of AI
The Foundation also acknowledged the rising importance of maintaining Wikipedia’s role as a trusted information source, especially in the era of generative AI. With AI models sometimes producing inaccurate or misleading content, the need for a human-moderated, fact-checked platform like Wikipedia has never been more critical.
Rather than seeing AI as a replacement for human input, Wikipedia views it as a way to reinforce its mission: delivering free, reliable knowledge to the world while protecting the integrity and authenticity of its content.
As Wikipedia steps into this next phase, it aims to set an example for how AI can serve humanity, enhancing collaboration, reducing barriers, and strengthening trust in shared knowledge.
