Wikipedia pauses AI summary trial after editor community uproar
Wikipedia’s AI experiment ran into fierce backlash from its own editors, forcing the Wikimedia Foundation to hit pause.
- Jun 12, 2025,
- Updated Jun 12, 2025 1:46 PM IST
The Wikimedia Foundation has suspended a trial of AI-generated article summaries on the mobile version of Wikipedia following strong objections from its editor community. The two-week test, part of the organisation’s effort to improve accessibility, sparked immediate controversy after its launch on June 2.
The experiment, titled “Simple Article Summaries,” aimed to use machine-generated content to make complex Wikipedia articles easier to understand for users with varying reading levels. The summaries, generated by an open-weight Aya model from Cohere, appeared at the top of articles and were marked with a yellow “unverified” label.
But the initiative quickly drew criticism from long-time contributors, who argued it risked damaging Wikipedia’s hard-earned reputation for reliability and neutrality, as reported by 404 Media.
“Just because Google has rolled out its AI summaries doesn’t mean we need to one-up them, I sincerely beg you not to test this, on mobile or anywhere else,” one editor wrote in response to the announcement. “This would do immediate and irreversible harm to our readers and to our reputation as a decently trustworthy and serious source.”
Others responded with blunt opposition, calling it a “very bad idea” and expressing the “strongest possible oppose.” One comment simply read: “Yuck.”
Critics raised concern that the AI summaries could introduce inaccuracies or bias without proper community oversight. “With Simple Article Summaries, you propose giving one singular editor with known reliability and NPOV [neutral point-of-view] issues a platform at the very top of any given article, whilst giving zero editorial control to others,” another editor stated.
In response, the Wikimedia Foundation announced it would pause the rollout, although it maintained interest in exploring generative AI as a long-term tool.
“The Wikimedia Foundation has been exploring ways to make Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects more accessible to readers globally,” a spokesperson said in an email to 404 Media. “This two-week, opt-in experiment was focused on making complex Wikipedia articles more accessible to people with different reading levels.”
They clarified that the experiment’s intent was to gather feedback and better understand how AI could be used with human moderation at the centre of the process. “We welcome such thoughtful feedback, this is what continues to make Wikipedia a truly collaborative platform of human knowledge,” the spokesperson added.
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The Wikimedia Foundation has suspended a trial of AI-generated article summaries on the mobile version of Wikipedia following strong objections from its editor community. The two-week test, part of the organisation’s effort to improve accessibility, sparked immediate controversy after its launch on June 2.
The experiment, titled “Simple Article Summaries,” aimed to use machine-generated content to make complex Wikipedia articles easier to understand for users with varying reading levels. The summaries, generated by an open-weight Aya model from Cohere, appeared at the top of articles and were marked with a yellow “unverified” label.
But the initiative quickly drew criticism from long-time contributors, who argued it risked damaging Wikipedia’s hard-earned reputation for reliability and neutrality, as reported by 404 Media.
“Just because Google has rolled out its AI summaries doesn’t mean we need to one-up them, I sincerely beg you not to test this, on mobile or anywhere else,” one editor wrote in response to the announcement. “This would do immediate and irreversible harm to our readers and to our reputation as a decently trustworthy and serious source.”
Others responded with blunt opposition, calling it a “very bad idea” and expressing the “strongest possible oppose.” One comment simply read: “Yuck.”
Critics raised concern that the AI summaries could introduce inaccuracies or bias without proper community oversight. “With Simple Article Summaries, you propose giving one singular editor with known reliability and NPOV [neutral point-of-view] issues a platform at the very top of any given article, whilst giving zero editorial control to others,” another editor stated.
In response, the Wikimedia Foundation announced it would pause the rollout, although it maintained interest in exploring generative AI as a long-term tool.
“The Wikimedia Foundation has been exploring ways to make Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects more accessible to readers globally,” a spokesperson said in an email to 404 Media. “This two-week, opt-in experiment was focused on making complex Wikipedia articles more accessible to people with different reading levels.”
They clarified that the experiment’s intent was to gather feedback and better understand how AI could be used with human moderation at the centre of the process. “We welcome such thoughtful feedback, this is what continues to make Wikipedia a truly collaborative platform of human knowledge,” the spokesperson added.
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