Jimmy Wales, the co-founder of Wikipedia, has issued a clarion call to prominent technology firms, including Google and OpenAI, advocating for remuneration for the substantial utilization of Wikipedia’s content in training artificial intelligence (AI) models.
Wales articulated that, while the information on Wikipedia is freely licensed, the escalating dependence by AI entities imposes significant financial and operational burdens on the non-profit organization.
“AI bots are costing us money,” Wales asserts
Wikipedia maintains its open-access framework but seeks compensation from AI enterprises. (AP)
In an interview with Reuters, Wales elucidated that Wikipedia’s content constitutes a significant proportion of the training datasets employed by large language models (LLMs), the architectures that underpin AI chatbots such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini.
However, he noted that the surge in automated traffic from AI bots is exerting considerable strain on the platform’s servers and infrastructure.
“As we are a crucial component of the training data for all major LLMs, it is imperative to recognize that everything in Wikipedia is freely licensed for public use,” Wales expressed. “However, the financial implications of AI bots crawling Wikipedia must be addressed.”
Wikipedia’s appeal to tech titans
Wales clarified that the organization does not intend to modify its open-access paradigm but rather seeks compensation from AI companies via its enterprise product, a paid API service intended for extensive data access.
“Our position is clear: we encourage you to utilize our enterprise product and reimburse us for your usage,” Wales articulated.
The Wikimedia Foundation, which oversees Wikipedia, operates solely on public donations, which aim to sustain and enhance the platform, not to subsidize profit-driven AI corporations.
“It is inequitable to our donors if they contribute to support Wikipedia, only for us to expend those resources to aid entities like OpenAI and Google,” Wales contended.
Contemplated restrictions on AI access
When prompted about the potential for blocking AI crawlers altogether, Wales acknowledged that while such a move is feasible, it is fraught with complications.
Although a segment of the organization has broached the subject, he posited that outright restrictions could diminish public access and conflict with Wikipedia’s foundational principles.
“There have been murmurs regarding this,” he commented, hinting at ongoing internal deliberations aimed at reconciling the tenets of openness with the necessity for sustainability.
This demand for financial remuneration emerges amidst growing friction between AI developers and content creators globally.
Numerous publishers and media entities have already sought compensation from AI firms for employing their copyrighted materials in training datasets, and now, Wikipedia, a preeminent bastion of human knowledge on the internet, appears poised to engage in that significant discourse.
Source link: Hindustantimes.com.
