Wikipedia Signs AI Access Deals With Microsoft, Meta, Perplexity: Heres Why

Wikipedia has signed new agreements with a number of artificial intelligence companies, pointing to a change in how the platform plans to work with the AI industry. The announcements come as Wikipedia completes 25 years online, a milestone for one of the internet’s most widely used reference sites. Also Read: Forza Horizon 6 Release Date May Have Leaked Via In-Game Pre-Order Listing

AI Companies Sign Up for Access

The Wikimedia Foundation, which operates Wikipedia, has confirmed deals with AI companies including Microsoft, Meta, Perplexity, Amazon, and France-based Mistral AI. These agreements allow companies to access Wikipedia content through official channels, rather than scraping it freely from the web. Also Read: WhatsApp Bans ChatGPT, Perplexity AI Bots For THIS Simple Reason

According to the foundation, the deals are designed to give AI developers access to Wikipedia data at a scale and speed that suits their needs. Financial terms have not been disclosed. Also Read: Elon Musk’s Grok To Stop Creating Undressed Images Of Real People On X

Why Wikipedia Is Making This Move

Wikipedia has long been free to use, but running the site is not free. Servers, infrastructure, and traffic all cost money, and the load has increased as AI bots visit the site in large numbers to collect data for training models. The foundation has said that human traffic to Wikipedia has dipped, while automated bot traffic has grown sharply, putting extra strain on its systems.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has said he supports AI models training on Wikipedia’s content, calling it “human-curated” and more reliable than data pulled from random corners of the internet. At the same time, he has stressed that companies using Wikipedia at scale should contribute to the costs they create.

Balancing Free Knowledge and Fair Use

Most of Wikipedia’s funding still comes from donations, with around eight million people contributing to keep the site running. The foundation has made it clear that these donations are meant to support free access to knowledge, not to subsidise large tech companies building commercial AI products.

This is not Wikipedia’s first step in this direction. The foundation signed Google as an enterprise customer in 2022 and later added smaller AI and search companies. The latest agreements expand that approach to some of the biggest players in the AI space.

AI Inside Wikipedia Too

The Wikimedia Foundation is also looking at how AI could help Wikipedia internally. Rather than writing articles, AI tools could be used to handle routine tasks, such as fixing broken links or assisting editors with maintenance work. There is also discussion around improving Wikipedia’s search experience, possibly moving beyond simple keyword searches.