It is no secret that the Wikimedia Foundation has been dabbling in generative AI as of late. One of its recent endeavours involves introducing AI-generated article summaries to Wikipedia. However, due to the overwhelmingly negative response from the encyclopedia’s volunteer editors, the organisation has put the project on hold.

Wikimedia initially intended to launch an opt-in two-week trial of the summaries on the mobile version of the site, and announced the plan on a discussion page. Of course, this was immediately met with strong opposition from the community. While some comments were simple statements like “yuck” and “absolutely not”, other editors explained the issues with introducing AI summaries to Wikipedia.

One of the main arguments is that the test would damage Wikipedia’s reputation as a trustworthy source, as the encyclopedia built its name on being sober and reliable, rather than flashy. Another editor pointed out that introducing AI in this manner could destroy the site’s collaborative model. The summaries, which would be located at the top of the page, are generated by a singular source with known reliability and neutral-point-of-view issues.

The same editor also noted that simple article summaries would also contradict the purpose of an encyclopedia, as people consult Wikipedia to seek as much information as possible. Meanwhile, Wikimedia claimed that the intention was to provide accessibility for different readers. Senior Director Marshall Miller stated that the foundation could have “done a better job introducing this idea”.

He also confirmed that the trial has been paused, promising to avoid adding a summary feature without editor involvement. However, Wikimedia is apparently still interested in AI-generated summaries, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if they make a return in the future.

(Source: Neowin)

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