Wikipedia AI is supporting a plan to test the article summary. Earlier this month, the platform announced a plan to test the facility for about 10 percent of mobile web visitors. To say that they were not well received by the editors, there would be an understanding. The Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) then changed the plans and canceled the test.
The AI summary may have appeared on top of articles for 10 percent of mobile users. Readers have to choose to see them. The AI-borne summary appeared only for the “one set of articles” for the testing period of two weeks.
Editor Comments in WMF Announcement ,Through 404 media)) From “yak” to “smile with horror.” An editor wrote, “Just because Google has rolled out its AI summary, it does not mean that we need to make them one-up. I honestly beg you that you do not test it on mobile or elsewhere. It will do immediate and irreversible damage to our readers and as a decency and serious source for our reputation.”
“Wikipedia has become a boyword for Sobber Boringness in some ways, which is excellent,” the editor continued. “Let’s do not insult the intelligence of our readers and the stampede AI joins the stampede to roll the summs.”
The hold of the editors was not limited to the idea. He also criticized non -profit organizations for excluding the planning phase. An editor wrote, “You also say that it has been discussed, which is fully laughable as ‘discussion’, which you have a participant, the original poster, who is another WMF employee, was written by an editor.
A spokesperson for the Wikimedia Foundation shared the following statements with Engadget:
“Wikimedia Foundation is searching for ways to create Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects More accessible for readers globallyIt was focused on two weeks, opt-in experiments to make complex Wikipedia articles more accessible with people. Different reading levelFor the purposes of this experiment, the summary was generated by the Aya model with an open weight by Cahere. This was to estimate interest in such a feature, and to help us think about the right type of community moderation systems to ensure that the human being remains central to decide what information has been shown on Wikipedia.
For these experiments, our general process involves discussing with volunteers (which make all the information on Wikipedia and cure) to decide whether and how to proceed with construction features. Discussion about this feature is an example of this process, where we created a prototype of an idea and reached the Wikipedia Swayamsevak community for their ideas.
It is common to get a variety of response from volunteers, and we include it in our decisions, and sometimes changes the course. We welcome such a thoughtful response – this is what makes Wikipedia a truly associate platform of human knowledge.
As shared Our latest post On the community discussion page, we have no plans to continue experimenting at this time, as we continue to assess and discuss the already received response from volunteers. In the “Discussion” page, the organization explained that it wanted to meet the needs of its audience. ” wrote“In the previous research, we heard that readers should have the option to get quick observation of a subject before jumping into full articles.”
The organization did not deny the future uses of AI. But he said that editors will not be left in the dark next time. The spokesperson said, “It is a serious set of decisions with important implications to bring generic AI in Wikipedia reading experience, and we intend to behave it in this way.” 404 media“We have no plans to bring a summary facility to Vicky without the editor’s participation.”
Update, June 13, 2025, 12:52 PM et: This story has been corrected to note that Wikipedia has actually never started its AI summary test. The plan was announced, but it was canceled before canceled. A statement by the Wikimedia Foundation has also been added, and the headline has also been updated.
