Wikipedia, one of the most visited websites in the world, has officially banned the use of artificial intelligence to write or rewrite its articles. The new policy, which passed with 44 votes in favor and just two opposed among the site’s volunteer editor community, states clearly that AI-generated text often violates Wikipedia’s core content standards and is now prohibited for article writing. The decision came after months of internal debate and several failed earlier attempts to set clear rules, with the challenge being less about whether AI should be restricted and more about exactly how to draw the lines. Two narrow exceptions were carved out: editors may use AI tools to refine their own writing, similar to a grammar checker, as long as a human reviews the output carefully. The second exception permits AI to assist with translation, provided the editor is fluent enough in both languages to catch errors before anything goes live.
The reasoning behind the ban goes deeper than simple quality concerns. Wikipedia is not just a reference site for readers: it is also one of the most heavily scraped sources of text used to train AI systems. When AI-generated content makes it onto Wikipedia pages, even briefly, it can be absorbed into the training data of future AI models, creating a feedback loop in which inaccurate or invented information multiplies and gets reinforced across the internet. There is also a practical burden problem that hit close to home for Wikipedia’s unpaid volunteers: generating AI content takes only seconds, but checking it for errors and correcting the damage can take hours, putting enormous pressure on the community that keeps the site running for free. The administrator who led the successful proposal said the hope is that this decision will inspire other online communities to make their own choices about where artificial intelligence does and does not belong.
Source: https://www.howtogeek.com/wikipedia-banned-ai-generated-text-in-articles-with-two-exceptions/
