The Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia, announced that it has signed new agreements with major players in the artificial intelligence market. The list includes companies such as Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Perplexity, and Mistral AI. In other words, “knowledge sourced from Wikipedia” is no longer just a common habit—it is turning into an official paid partnership.
Under the new agreements, these companies will legally pay to access Wikipedia data through the Wikimedia Enterprise service. This is meant to replace the widespread practice of “unauthorized scraping,” i.e., secretly collecting large amounts of data from the site. According to the foundation, a mechanism for using content under “transparent and legal terms” is now emerging.
Interestingly, while these deals are signed for a one-year term, such partnerships were not previously announced publicly. Now the new “partners” have joined companies already working with Wikimedia Enterprise, including Google, Ecosia, and others.
The Wikimedia Foundation says Wikipedia plays a major role in the development of modern technologies. The encyclopedia’s data is widely used by chatbots, search engines, voice assistants, and many other AI-powered services. The foundation’s position is simple: the data will be used anyway—so why not use it in a “proper, fair, and open” way?
In short, while keeping the idea of being “open to everyone,” Wikipedia is telling AI companies that use its data at scale: “okay, use it—but officially and by paying for it.” This signals that digital market rules around content, licensing, and data may become stricter in the future.
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