AI data scrapers are an existential threat to Wikipedia

image via New Scientist

April 4, 2025, 9:00 PM

• •Wikipedia is under threat from AI developers who are using automated data scraper programs to collect training data for their models.
• •The non-profit Wikimedia Foundation, which operates Wikipedia, says since January 2024 it has seen a 50 per cent increase in network traffic requesting image and video downloads from its catalogue.
• •The increase in traffic is costing the Wikimedia Foundation more money to operate the site.

Wikipedia is under threat from the AI boom, as developers harvest its content to train their models. The resulting surge in automated traffic is driving up costs for the non-profit that runs the popular crowdsourced encyclopaedia.

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