Wikipedia has reportedly paused its experiment with artificial intelligence-generated summaries after facing overwhelming backlash from its editor community, who argued the feature would harm the platform’s credibility.
What Happened: The Wikimedia Foundation had planned to test AI-generated summaries on Wikipedia articles to make content more accessible to users with varying reading levels, reported 404 Media.
The feature, which used an AI model by Cohere, was intended to simplify articles and display summaries at the top of pages.
However, the trial sparked significant opposition from Wikipedia editors, who criticized the tool for potentially undermining the platform’s reputation as a reliable, community-driven resource.
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One editor voiced their concern, saying, “Just because Google has rolled out its AI summaries doesn’t mean we need to one-up them,” adding, “This would do immediate and irreversible harm to our readers and to our reputation as a decently trustworthy and serious source.”
In response to the criticism, the Wikimedia Foundation announced the pause of the experiment, though it pointed out that AI features could still be part of future developments, provided that editorial oversight remains central.
“We do not have any plans for bringing a summary feature to the wikis without editor involvement. An editor moderation workflow is required under any circumstances, both for this idea, as well as any future idea around AI, summarized or adapted content,” a Wikipedia project manager told the publication.
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Why It’s Important: Earlier this year, Apple Inc. AAPL received flak for its AI news summaries feature generated inaccurate results on iPhones. Following the criticism, Apple also paused the feature, saying, “We are working on improvements and will make them available in a future software update.”
Last year, Alphabet Inc.’s GOOG GOOG Google also received backlash after it rolled out “AI Overviews,” formerly known as Search Generative Experience (SGE).
One notable example involved a user asking how to stop cheese from sliding off pizza. In response, Google’s AI recommended mixing glue into the sauce—a suggestion it pulled from a Reddit comment without recognizing the sarcasm.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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