As part of its 25th anniversary celebration, the Wikimedia Foundation has announced a series of new partnerships with AI technology companies that are now customers of its commercial product, Wikimedia Enterprise. Wikimedia Enterprise, developed by the Foundation, enables the large-scale reuse and distribution of Wikipedia content, as well as content from other Wikimedia projects.
In addition to its previously announced partnership with Google in 2022, the organization has publicly shared for the first time other partnerships it has made over the past year with Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Mistral AI, and Perplexity. Other partnerships such as Ecosia, Pleias, and ProRata have been mentioned previously and are also included in this announcement, along with Nomic and Reef Media.
These agreements give Wikipedia new ways to sustain itself in an era when much of its content is captured and reused by AI models and other technology products and services to provide fast, fact-based answers to consumer questions. As an enterprise product, Wikimedia Enterprise does more than just make technology companies pay for usage. It also gives you access to Wikimedia projects at a volume and speed designed to meet your data needs.
The foundation also said in a blog post that Wikipedia is currently among the top 10 most visited websites in the world, with viewers viewing more than 65 million articles in more than 300 languages and about 15 billion views per month.
“Wikipedia shows us that knowledge is human, and knowledge requires humans. Especially now, in the age of AI, we need Wikipedia’s human knowledge more than ever,” Wikimedia Foundation CPO/CTO Serena Deckelman said in a statement. “With the continued support of our readers, volunteer editors, donors, partners, and fans around the world, Wikipedia will remain a vital hub of online human knowledge and collaboration for the next 25 years and beyond.”
In addition to announcing technology deals, the foundation launched a birthday campaign. This includes a new video documentary series that takes you behind the scenes of Wikipedia volunteers around the world. We’ve also launched a “25 Years of Wikipedia” time capsule that explores the site’s past, present and future, with narration from founder Jimmy Wales. The organization will also host a livestreamed birthday event with guests, games, and entertainment on January 15th at 4:00 pm (UTC). The event can be viewed on Wikipedia’s YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram channels.
The organization’s birthday announcement also highlighted other recent advances, including technology infrastructure upgrades, a unique approach to AI, and new experiments such as games and short-form videos.
