Wikipedia wants AI companies to pay up for using its content
Wikipedia is feeling the pinch as AI companies lean heavily on its articles to train their language models.
Co-founder Jimmy Wales says it's time these tech giants chip in, so Wikipedia is now looking to strike licensing deals—like the one it made with Google back in 2022—to help cover rising costs.
Why this matters and what's next
With more AI bots pulling data, Wikipedia's server bills are climbing, but most of its funding still comes from everyday donations—not big tech.
To keep things fair (and the site running), Wales said he believes Wikipedia's 'soft power to just shame' companies is probably effective, rather than taking legal action, and is also exploring tools like Cloudflare's AI Crawl Control to manage automated access while keeping Wikipedia free for everyone.