Latest news with #WikimediaFoundation
Time of India
12-06-2025
- Time of India
Wikipedia stops AI-generated summary features after community says it can harm trust: ‘This would do immediate and irreversible…'
The Wikimedia Foundation has paused its trial of AI-generated article summaries on Wikipedia following sharp criticism from the community of volunteer editors, says a 404Media report. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The experiment, which began earlier this month, aimed to show short, machine-generated summaries at the top of Wikipedia articles on mobile. However, it faced immediate and overwhelming backlash. The report quotes one editor who said, 'Just because Google has rolled out its AI summaries doesn't mean we need to one-up them… This would do immediate and irreversible harm to our readers and to our reputation as a decently trustworthy and serious source.' Another simply wrote, 'Yuck.' Wikipedia's Simple Article Summaries faces backlash The summaries, created using the Aya model from Cohere, appeared at the top of articles for users who opted in via a browser extension. These summaries were hidden by default, marked with a yellow 'unverified' label, and had to be expanded to read. The feature was called 'Simple Article Summaries' and was designed to make dense Wikipedia content easier to understand. But editors were quick to argue that this approach undermined the core values of Wikipedia. One said, 'With Simple Article Summaries, you propose giving one singular editor with known reliability and NPOV issues a platform at the very top of any given article… I don't think I would feel comfortable contributing to an encyclopedia like this.' Wikipedia responds to backlash In response to the backlash, Wikimedia announced it would pause the experiment. A spokesperson explained that the trial was an opt-in test to help make Wikipedia more accessible, particularly for readers with different reading levels. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now 'It was meant to gauge interest… and help us think about the right kind of community moderation systems to ensure humans remain central to deciding what information is shown,' the spokesperson said as quoted in the report. The Foundation also acknowledged that the communication around the project could have been better. 'Reading through the comments, it's clear we could have done a better job introducing this idea,' a project manager said. 'We need to figure out how we can experiment in safe ways that are appropriate for readers and the Wikimedia community.' While the AI summaries have been put on hold for now, Wikimedia says it remains interested in exploring AI tools — but with full involvement from editors. 'We do not have any plans for bringing a summary feature to the wikis without editor involvement,' the project manager added.
Gizmodo
12-06-2025
- Gizmodo
Wikipedia Tries to Calm Fury Over New AI-Generated Summaries Proposal
The denizens of the open web don't want anything to do with AI. The Wikimedia Foundation, the organization behind Wikipedia, made the unfortunate decision to announce the trial of a new AI-fueled article generator this week. The backlash from the site's editors was so swift and so vengeful that the organization quickly walked back its idea, announcing a temporary 'pause' of the new feature. A spokesperson on behalf of the Foundation—which is largely separate from the decentralized community of editors that populate the site with articles—explained last week that, in an effort to make wikis 'more accessible to readers globally through different projects around content discovery,' the organization planned to trial 'machine-generated, but editor moderated, simple summaries for readers.' Like many other organizations that have been plagued by new automated features, Wikipedia's rank and file were quick to anger over the experimental new tool. The responses, which are posted to the open web, are truly something to behold. 'What the hell? No, absolutely not,' said one editor. 'Not in any form or shape. Not on any device. Not on any version. I don't even know where to begin with everything that is wrong with this mindless PR hype stunt.' 'This will destroy whatever reputation for accuracy we currently have,' another editor said. 'People aren't going to read past the AI fluff to see what we really meant.' Yet another editor was even more vehement: 'Keep AI out of Wikipedia. That is all. WMF staffers looking to pad their resumes with AI-related projects need to be looking for new employers.' 'A truly ghastly idea,' said another. 'Since all WMF proposals steamroller on despite what the actual community says, I hope I will at least see the survey and that—unlike some WMF surveys—it includes one or more options to answer 'NO'.' 'Are y'all (by that, I mean WMF) trying to kill Wikipedia? Because this is a good step in that way,' another editor said. 'We're trying to keep AI out of Wikipedia, not have the powers that be force it on us and tell us we like it.' The forum is littered with countless other negative responses from editors who expressed a categorical rejection of the tool. Not long afterward, the organization paused the feature, 404 Media reported. 'The Wikimedia Foundation has been exploring ways to make Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects more accessible to readers globally,' a Wikimedia Foundation spokesperson told 404 Media. 'This two-week, opt-in experiment was focused on making complex Wikipedia articles more accessible to people with different reading levels. For the purposes of this experiment, the summaries were generated by an open-weight Aya model by Cohere. It was meant to gauge interest in a feature like this, and to help us think about the right kind of community moderation systems to ensure humans remain central to deciding what information is shown on Wikipedia.'
Scoop
12-06-2025
- General
- Scoop
From Aotearoa To The World: Kiwi Wikipedia Editors Gain Global Recognition
A group of New Zealanders who edit Wikipedia articles have been officially recognised as a chapter of the international Wikimedia Foundation. Wikipedia, the 7th most-visited website on the internet, is hosted by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation based in San Francisco. The foundation isn't responsible for the content you read in Wikipedia articles however – that is written and maintained by a community of over 120,000 volunteer editors across the world. New Zealanders are doing their bit too, with over 400 volunteers across the motu. A number of these dedicated editors have joined forces to form Wikimedia Aotearoa New Zealand, or WANZ, a group which provides support to people and organisations to improve and increase contributions to Wikipedia and related projects. To become a chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation, members needed to run as a user group of active editors with well-documented activities for at least two years before they could apply. Local editors and WANZ members include people like Tamsin Braisher in Dunedin, who created a new Wikipedia article every single day for a year to help combat gender bias on the site, Siobhan Leachman in Wellington who was awarded Wikimedia Laureate in 2023 and works tirelessly to make scientific knowledge as open and connected as possible, and Axel Downard-Wilke in Christchurch, who led the battle to get macrons on Wikipedia. With WANZ President Victoria Leachman – who successfully led the group to this achievement – currently on sabbatical, the committee are fortunate to have knowledgeable editor Lisa Maule as Acting President. 'The committee is very proud of the efforts of volunteer New Zealand Wikipedians over the years that have led to this organisational milestone' shared Lisa. 'Chapter recognition gives us a clear mandate from the Wikimedia Foundation to keep building and growing our networks and projects throughout Aotearoa New Zealand.' Funding from the Wikimedia Foundation enables projects that support the Foundation's mission in Aotearoa New Zealand: To empower and engage people to collect and develop educational content under a free licence, so it can be shared and reused freely. This includes providing training to new editors, supporting experienced editors to continue to grow and develop their skills, running workshops and events, developing projects to address gaps and bias, and advocating for open access of knowledge. Projects such as the Wikipedian at Large help to develop Wikipedia content and engagement in communities across the country, while a Wikimedian in Residence position at Auckland Museum supports the museum's successful engagement with Wikimedia projects, including their efforts to increase coverage of local knowledge as a resource for the new Aotearoa New Zealand Histories Curriculum. 'We are grateful for the support we receive from the Wikimedia Foundation, and look forward to extending our connections with the East and Southeast Asia and Pacific region, and across the international Wikipedia movement. 'It's onwards and upwards from here for open and accessible knowledge contributed by the diverse groups of people living in Aotearoa New Zealand.'
Scoop
12-06-2025
- General
- Scoop
From Aotearoa To The World: Kiwi Wikipedia Editors Gain Global Recognition
A group of New Zealanders who edit Wikipedia articles have been officially recognised as a chapter of the international Wikimedia Foundation. Wikipedia, the 7th most-visited website on the internet, is hosted by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation based in San Francisco. The foundation isn't responsible for the content you read in Wikipedia articles however – that is written and maintained by a community of over 120,000 volunteer editors across the world. New Zealanders are doing their bit too, with over 400 volunteers across the motu. A number of these dedicated editors have joined forces to form Wikimedia Aotearoa New Zealand, or WANZ, a group which provides support to people and organisations to improve and increase contributions to Wikipedia and related projects. To become a chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation, members needed to run as a user group of active editors with well-documented activities for at least two years before they could apply. Local editors and WANZ members include people like Tamsin Braisher in Dunedin, who created a new Wikipedia article every single day for a year to help combat gender bias on the site, Siobhan Leachman in Wellington who was awarded Wikimedia Laureate in 2023 and works tirelessly to make scientific knowledge as open and connected as possible, and Axel Downard-Wilke in Christchurch, who led the battle to get macrons on Wikipedia. With WANZ President Victoria Leachman – who successfully led the group to this achievement – currently on sabbatical, the committee are fortunate to have knowledgeable editor Lisa Maule as Acting President. 'The committee is very proud of the efforts of volunteer New Zealand Wikipedians over the years that have led to this organisational milestone' shared Lisa. 'Chapter recognition gives us a clear mandate from the Wikimedia Foundation to keep building and growing our networks and projects throughout Aotearoa New Zealand.' Funding from the Wikimedia Foundation enables projects that support the Foundation's mission in Aotearoa New Zealand: To empower and engage people to collect and develop educational content under a free licence, so it can be shared and reused freely. This includes providing training to new editors, supporting experienced editors to continue to grow and develop their skills, running workshops and events, developing projects to address gaps and bias, and advocating for open access of knowledge. Projects such as the Wikipedian at Large help to develop Wikipedia content and engagement in communities across the country, while a Wikimedian in Residence position at Auckland Museum supports the museum's successful engagement with Wikimedia projects, including their efforts to increase coverage of local knowledge as a resource for the new Aotearoa New Zealand Histories Curriculum. 'We are grateful for the support we receive from the Wikimedia Foundation, and look forward to extending our connections with the East and Southeast Asia and Pacific region, and across the international Wikipedia movement. 'It's onwards and upwards from here for open and accessible knowledge contributed by the diverse groups of people living in Aotearoa New Zealand.'
The Verge
11-06-2025
- The Verge
Posted Jun 11, 2025 at 5:17 PM EDT
Wikipedia halts experiment with AI-generated article summaries. Following a slew of complaints from editors, a Wikimedia Foundation spokesperson confirmed to 404 Media that it's pausing the two-week test, which began on June 2nd. The experiment put AI-generated summaries at the top of articles for users who opted in. One editor responded to the idea by saying, 'Just because Google has rolled out its AI summaries doesn't mean we need to one-up them.'
