"We're not asking for charity": Wikimedia CEO calls out AI for unpaid data use
Summary
Wikipedia’s page views dropped by 8% in 2025 as many people use AI tools to get information without visiting the site. Wikimedia CEO Bernadette Meehan said some AI companies rely heavily on Wikipedia’s content but do not pay for using its data, which threatens Wikipedia’s funding and community.Key Facts
- Wikipedia page views fell by 8% in 2025 compared to the previous year.
- Wikimedia Foundation makes about 10% of its funding from companies that pay for large-scale access to its data.
- Some big AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic do not publicly pay Wikimedia for access to its data.
- Wikimedia’s CEO said the foundation is not asking for charity but wants companies benefiting from Wikipedia to help support it.
- About 80% of Wikimedia’s budget comes from small donations triggered by site visitors.
- Fewer readers mean fewer new editors, which could harm Wikipedia’s future content quality.
- Wikimedia supports AI tools that help editors but opposes AI creating Wikipedia articles entirely.
- Wikipedia is available in about 300 languages, many of which might be ignored by commercial AI services.
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