Wikipedia seeks more paid AI licensing deals similar to its Google agreement

Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales said the Wikimedia Foundation is looking to sign more paid licensing deals with AI companies akin to its 2022 agreement with Google, which compensates Wikipedia for training access to its content. He argued that large AI firms rely heavily on Wikipedia’s free knowledge but impose additional infrastructure costs on the nonprofit, and that structured licensing can help fund the project while avoiding over-reliance on any single tech partner.