Wikipedia Abandons AI Summary Experiment Following Editor Criticism
Wikipedia has cancelled its plans to test AI-generated article summaries after facing significant backlash from its editor community. The Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) had announced earlier this month that it would trial the feature for about 10 percent of mobile web visitors.
The AI summaries were intended to appear at the top of articles for a select group of mobile users, who would have had to opt in to view them. The feature was meant to be tested on “a set of articles” for a two-week period. However, editor feedback was overwhelmingly negative, with comments ranging from “Yuck” to “Grinning with horror.”
Editors not only criticized the idea itself but also expressed frustration at being excluded from the planning process. One editor noted that the discussion page cited by the WMF had only a single participant, another WMF employee.
In response to the backlash, a Wikimedia Foundation spokesperson told Engadget that the organization had been exploring ways to make Wikipedia more accessible to readers globally. The spokesperson emphasized that the decision to cancel the test was made after considering feedback from volunteers.
“We welcome such thoughtful feedback — this is what continues to make Wikipedia a truly collaborative platform of human knowledge,” the spokesperson said. While the WMF didn’t rule out future uses of AI, they assured that editors would be involved in any future decisions regarding AI implementation.
“Bringing generative AI into the Wikipedia reading experience is a serious set of decisions, with important implications, and we intend to treat it as such,” the spokesperson added. “We do not have any plans for bringing a summary feature to the wikis without editor involvement.”
