Wikipedia has no real way to stop crawlers. It's better to make some money off the content. The content is free and in public domain anyway. At least, without bots crashing the site, I can still access Wikipedia.
this post was submitted on 15 Jan 2026
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AI, in this case, refers to LLMs, GPT technology, and anything listed as "AI" meant to increase market valuations.
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Not that I want AI companies to have an easier time developing their products, but this is a far better arrangement than the wholesale theft that companies have been using for their training data up until now.
I'm good with it. Wikipedia gets the funding to stay open. As long as it doesn't allow for AI editing.
The real issue is that the writers and editors who have spent decades creating Wikipedia didn't do so with the thought that their work would be used to create machines that would hurt human beings.
Please point to where ChatGPT hurt you
short sighted… they could do ads as well… but you know where yhis is headed, the'll be addicted to the money and do whatever meta asks
And/Or Meta AI will spew nonsense and blame it on wikipedia
A pact with the devil is never free
I'm the first in line to wish the death of AI, but honestly, my love for wikipedia is even bigger, so glad they find new revenue.
Welp, good thing I got it downloaded so once it gets ruined by slop, I can reference my local copy through Kiwix.
This is about ai model makers paying for download access to train models, not ai generated content on wikipedia.
… for now