Trending 
Wikipedia will not allow Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems to directly edit articles on its platform because the technology remains unreliable, co-founder Jimmy Wales has said.
Wales said AI “hallucinations”, where systems generate false information while presenting it confidently, remain a major concern despite improvements in newer models.
Speaking on the sidelines of a climate action week event in London, Wales said AI tools could still play a useful role in supporting Wikipedia’s millions of volunteer editors by identifying niche news stories or information that may otherwise go unnoticed.
He explained that while AI could assist editors, the platform would not permit it to make direct changes to articles because the technology cannot yet be trusted to maintain accuracy.
“We would not let it edit directly because you can’t really trust it enough,” he said.
Meanwhile, AI platforms increasingly rely on Wikipedia’s content to respond to user queries, contributing to a rise in visits from AI bots even as human traffic to the site has declined by eight per cent.
Wales, who serves on the board of trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation, which operates Wikipedia, described the decline in human visitors as significant but not a crisis for the online encyclopaedia, which remains among the world’s most visited websites.
Founded in 2001, Wikipedia operates largely through user donations and does not depend directly on web traffic for revenue.
Wales also called on AI companies to contribute more towards supporting the platform, noting that handling millions of automated requests increases server and operational costs.
He said Wikipedia had already reached agreements with several major technology companies but warned that the platform could block firms that fail to engage responsibly.
