Wikipedia is supporting AI article summary…for now. Earlier this month, the platform tried the feature in its mobile app. It would be an understatement to say that they were not accepted by the editor. Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) stopped testing a day later.
An AI summary appears at the top of the article, with 10% of mobile users. Readers have to choose to see them. The AI-generated summary appears only in “a set of articles” during the two-week trial.
Edit comments in WMF announcement (by 404 Media) From “youck” to “fear laughter”. “Just because Google has launched AI summary, it doesn’t mean we need to do it alone. I sincerely ask you not to test it on mobile devices or anywhere else. This will cause direct and irreversible harm to our readers and us as a very trustworthy and serious source,” one editor wrote.
“Wikipedia has become synonymous with sober boredom in some ways, which is great,” the editor continued. “Let’s not insult the wisdom of readers and join Stampede to launch a flashy AI summary.”
The editor’s grip is not limited to this idea. They also criticized nonprofits for excluding them from the planning stage. “You also said that this has been in a ‘discussion’, which can be completely ridiculous because the ‘discussion’ you linked to had a participant, the original poster, who is another WMF employee,” one editor wrote.
In a statement 404 MediaA WMF spokesman said the rebound affected its decision. “There are often all kinds of feedback received from volunteers, which we incorporate into our decisions and sometimes change the course,” a spokesperson said. “We welcome this thoughtful feedback – which continues to make Wikipedia a truly collaborative platform for human knowledge.”
In the Discussion page, the organization explains that it wants to meet the needs of its audience. “In addition to the main content, many readers need some simplified text,” WMF staff wrote. “In previous research, we heard that readers would like to have an option to quickly outline a topic before reading the full article.”
WMF employees said the average reading level of adults in English is 14 or 15 years old. They added: “This may be lower for non-native speakers who regularly read English Wikipedia.”
The organization did not rule out the future uses of AI. But they said they would not stay in the dark next time. “Bringing generated AI into the Wikipedia reading experience is a serious set of decisions with important implications and we intend to treat it like this,” the spokesperson told the spokesperson. 404 Media. “We don’t have any plans to bring the summary feature to the Wikis without editing.”
