Wikipedia Plans to Use AI Without Replacing Human Contributors

On Wednesday, Wikipedia unveiled its AI strategy for the next three years—reassuringly, it won’t be replacing its community of editors and volunteers with AI.

Instead, the organization plans to use AI to develop new tools that eliminate technical hurdles, enabling editors, moderators, and patrollers to focus on their tasks without needing to navigate complex technical processes.

Wikipedia Positions AI as a Collaborative Tool, Not a Job Replacement

Amid ongoing concerns about AI potentially displacing human jobs—particularly in content creation—Wikipedia emphasizes that its goal is to use AI as a supportive tool, not a replacement for people.

The organization plans to apply generative AI in areas where it performs well, such as developing AI-assisted workflows to handle repetitive tasks. Additionally, AI will enhance information discoverability on the platform, freeing up editors to focus on the collaborative decision-making needed for creating and updating Wikipedia entries.

AI will also support editors by automating translations and helping onboard new volunteers.

“Our success with AI will depend not just on what we build, but on how we build it,” wrote Chris Albon, Director of Machine Learning at the Wikimedia Foundation, in a blog post announcing the initiative.

Wikipedia’s AI Strategy Rooted in Core Values and Human-Centered Design

Albon adds that their approach will be guided by Wikipedia’s core values, principles, and policies—such as privacy and human rights—emphasizing a human-centered design that upholds human agency. The initiative will also prioritize open-source or open-weight AI, transparency, and a thoughtful approach to multilingualism, which is central to Wikipedia’s mission.

He also noted that preserving and maintaining Wikipedia’s knowledge base has become even more critical in the era of generative AI, which is known to occasionally produce errors and misleading information.

Read the original article on: TechCrunch

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