Wikipedia’s Existential Threats Feel Greater Than Ever
WIRED • • world
Key Points:
- In 2010, the FBI demanded Wikipedia remove its logo from the agency’s entry, threatening legal action, but Wikimedia Foundation’s lawyer successfully challenged the claim, leading the FBI to drop the matter.
- Wikipedia now faces intense political attacks, particularly from the right accusing it of liberal bias, alongside challenges from AI companies scraping its content and a declining volunteer editor base, known as the "graying of Wikipedia."
- The rise of AI has paradoxically increased reliance on Wikipedia’s human-vetted content for training models, yet Wikipedia’s direct traffic has significantly dropped as users consume its information through AI chatbots instead.
- Efforts to attract younger contributors include launching short-form video content on platforms like TikTok, but the economic pressures and cultural shifts among
