Microsoft , Meta, Amazon, Perplexity and Mistral AI are following Google in paying the Wikimedia Foundation to access its projects, including Wikipedia's extensive collection of articles. The organization announced the move as part of Wikipedia's 25th anniversary celebrations.
These partnerships are part of Wikimedia Enterprise, an initiative launched in 2021 that provides large companies with access to a premium version of the Wikipedia API for a fee.
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Lane Becker, senior director of revenue at the Wikimedia Foundation, told The Verge that the program offers a version of Wikipedia "tailored" for commercial use and AI companies.
"We take feature requests, build functionality, and try to structure the data in ways that support the needs of these companies," says Becker.
Wikipedia: Microsoft, Meta, Amazon pay subscription
The Wikimedia Foundation says Microsoft, Perplexity , and Mistral AI joined the Enterprise program "over the past year." While the company lists Meta and Amazon as "existing" partners, this is the first time they've been publicly announced.
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Funds raised as part of Wikimedia Enterprise go toward supporting the nonprofit's projects, which, according to Becker, can help establish a more sustainable business.
"It is in the best interest of every AI company to support the long-term sustainability of Wikipedia, because Wikipedia and all the other projects we support are so core to their business," says Becker. " Achieving a new sustainable balance with these new companies is critical to our continued existence, but also to their own continued existence."
The Wikimedia Enterprise initiative was created to meet the growing needs of data-driven companies to develop innovative solutions and products. Wikipedia, as one of the world's largest and most trusted sources of information, is a key tool for many of these companies, especially in the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning.
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By providing a customized version of the Wikipedia API, the Wikimedia Foundation seeks to improve the quality and reliability of data used by companies, while at the same time securing resources to continue its non-profit projects. Partnering with major technology companies not only strengthens the foundation's financial sustainability, but also promotes innovation and the development of new technologies based on knowledge and information.
