The Wikimedia Foundation is marking a defining moment in its history by unveiling a wave of new AI partnerships that signal how Wikipedia plans to thrive in an era dominated by artificial intelligence. As the organization celebrates its 25th anniversary, it confirmed that several of the world’s most influential technology companies are now paying customers of its commercial platform, Wikimedia Enterprise. This move reflects a broader effort to protect, sustain, and responsibly distribute human-created knowledge as AI systems increasingly rely on open information.
At the center of the announcement is Wikimedia Enterprise, a product designed to support large-scale reuse of Wikipedia and other Wikimedia project content. While Wikipedia has always been free for anyone to read, scrape, or reference, the foundation has recognized that AI companies require data at a scale, speed, and reliability that goes beyond traditional access. Wikimedia Enterprise fills that gap by offering structured, regularly updated, and high-volume access tailored for enterprise needs.
Over the past year, the foundation quietly formed new Wikimedia Enterprise partnerships with Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Mistral AI, and Perplexity. These relationships were publicly disclosed for the first time as part of the anniversary announcement. The foundation also reaffirmed existing or previously mentioned partnerships with organizations such as Ecosia, Pleias, ProRata, Nomic, and Reef Media, alongside its earlier deal with Google announced in 2022. Together, these agreements show how deeply embedded Wikipedia content has become within modern AI products and services.
This shift comes at a critical time for Wikipedia. As generative AI tools and search assistants increasingly deliver instant answers, much of that information originates from Wikipedia articles written and maintained by volunteers. Without clear commercial structures, that reuse risks weakening the foundation’s long-term sustainability. Wikimedia Enterprise provides a way to ensure that large technology companies contribute financially when they rely on Wikipedia content at scale, while still preserving free access for everyday readers around the world.
The Wikimedia Foundation emphasized that these deals are not only about revenue. Wikimedia Enterprise is also built to serve the technical realities of modern AI development. Enterprise customers gain access to high-quality datasets that are delivered faster, more reliably, and in formats optimized for machine learning, search, and knowledge graphs. This reduces the need for aggressive scraping and helps protect Wikimedia’s infrastructure from excessive automated traffic.
According to the foundation, Wikipedia remains one of the most influential platforms on the internet. It consistently ranks among the top ten most-visited websites worldwide. Audiences now read more than 65 million articles across over 300 languages, generating close to 15 billion page views every month. That scale underscores why AI companies continue to depend on Wikimedia content as a trusted source of factual knowledge.
Selena Deckelmann, the Wikimedia Foundation’s Chief Product and Technology Officer, framed the announcement as a reaffirmation of Wikipedia’s human roots. She stressed that Wikipedia demonstrates how knowledge is fundamentally human and collaborative. In her view, the rapid growth of AI makes that human-powered foundation even more essential. By combining the work of volunteer editors with responsible partnerships, the foundation believes Wikipedia can remain a global knowledge hub for decades to come.
The announcement also highlights a broader philosophical stance on AI. Rather than rejecting artificial intelligence, the Wikimedia Foundation is positioning itself as an active participant in shaping how AI systems interact with open knowledge. The organization has repeatedly stated that AI should support contributors, improve access, and enhance quality, not replace human editors or undermine community governance. Wikimedia Enterprise allows the foundation to set clearer expectations around attribution, freshness, and responsible reuse.
Beyond the AI partnerships, the foundation used its 25th birthday to launch a global celebration campaign. A new video docuseries offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at Wikipedia volunteers from different regions, showing how contributors collaborate across cultures, languages, and time zones. The series aims to humanize the people behind the articles and remind audiences that Wikipedia is built by individuals, not algorithms.
The organization also introduced a “25 Years of Wikipedia” digital time capsule. This interactive project allows users to explore Wikipedia’s past milestones, current initiatives, and future ambitions. Parts of the experience are narrated by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, adding a personal historical perspective to the platform’s evolution from a small experiment to one of the internet’s most trusted resources.
As part of the anniversary celebrations, the Wikimedia Foundation is hosting a livestreamed birthday event on January 15 at 4:00 PM UTC. The event features guests, games, and entertainment, and will stream across Wikipedia’s official YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram channels. The livestream is designed to engage both long-time contributors and newer audiences who primarily encounter Wikipedia through search engines and AI assistants.
The foundation’s birthday announcements also pointed to recent progress behind the scenes. Wikimedia has invested heavily in upgrading its technical infrastructure to improve reliability, scalability, and security. These improvements are especially important as AI-driven access increases traffic patterns that differ significantly from traditional human browsing.
In parallel, the organization continues to refine its own internal approach to AI. Wikimedia has been experimenting with tools that assist editors with moderation, translation, and content quality, while maintaining strict safeguards around transparency and community oversight. The foundation has also tested new formats such as games and short-form video to reach audiences who may not engage with traditional encyclopedia articles.
Taken together, the new AI partnerships represent a strategic evolution rather than a departure from Wikimedia’s mission. By formalizing relationships with companies like Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Mistral AI, and Perplexity, the foundation is asserting that open knowledge has value and that large-scale commercial reuse should help support the ecosystem that makes it possible. At the same time, Wikimedia Enterprise ensures that AI developers can access accurate, up-to-date information without placing undue strain on volunteer-run infrastructure.
As Wikipedia enters its next quarter century, the foundation appears focused on balance. It aims to protect the integrity of human-curated knowledge while acknowledging the realities of an AI-driven internet. The 25th anniversary announcements make clear that Wikipedia is not standing still. Instead, it is adapting its model to remain sustainable, relevant, and independent in a world where machines increasingly speak with human voices powered by collective human knowledge.
