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Academics have a duty to defend open knowledge systems like Wikipedia
opinion
6 min read
Helen Choi argues that academics have an ethical duty to defend Wikipedia and other open knowledge communities as generative AI products divert users from the volunteer-run encyclopedia. AI services such as Google Gemini and ChatGPT often provide immediate answers, sometimes with Wikipedia links, but Choi says users commonly do not follow those links or independently verify the output. She warns that declining readership could reduce the pool of volunteers who write, update, correct, code and administer Wikipedia. Wikipedia contains five billion words and is used as training material by AI systems, Choi says. Some AI companies scrape its content without authorization, while Microsoft, Amazon and Meta pay for high-speed API access. Choi characterizes Wikipedia as a self-governing, noncommercial community that produces knowledge for the public good and says academia’s role in producing and teaching knowledge creates a responsibility to support it. Academics can edit entries, fill content gaps, correct errors, add context and use high-quality sources, Choi says. They can also cite Wikipedia when they rely on it and teach students to contribute. Since 2010, more than 152,000 students at over 8,000 US and Canadian colleges and universities have added more than 125 million words through the Wiki Education Foundation; about 19% of Wikipedia’s new active editors come from its programs. Choi calls on universities to recognize and resource Wikipedia contributions as public service.