Wikipedia Demands Payment, Use of Paid API from AI Data Scrapers

Wikimedia Foundation Directs AI Companies to Stop Scraping, Use Paid API for Data Access

On Monday, the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that hosts Wikipedia (the free online encyclopedia), expressed some concerns over the way AI bots have been accessing its information.

It sternly urged developers to use its paid API service to support the contributors and give them proper credit, rather than just scraping the data. The platform is trying to ensure that its creators’ efforts get the necessary support in times when artificial intelligence is replacing humans in most workflows.

Surge in AI Bots and Decline in Human Traffic

The Wikimedia Foundation recently updated its bot-detection systems and saw a surge in traffic in May and June 2025, which was primarily driven by AI bots. The company observed that these sophisticated bots tried to evade detection by imitating browsing patterns exhibited by human users.

This surge in automated scraping taxes Wikipedia's servers severely and consumes disproportionate resources. The foundation's updated monitoring further revealed a decline of 8% in authentic human page views. This trend is concerning, as Wikipedia has been dependent on human visitors for its sustainability.

Fewer visits translates to fewer people becoming volunteer contributors who enrich their content. Additionally, a drop in human engagement could also lead to a drop in the number of individual donors supporting the site's nonprofit mission.

In a recent blog, the Wikimedia Foundation stated, “For people to trust information shared online, platforms must make it clear where that information originates and highlight opportunities to visit and participate in those sources.”

Wikimedia Enterprise: The Official, Paid Channel for AI Data

The Wikimedia Foundation is urging AI developers to utilize its paid product, Wikimedia Enterprise, to access large-scale content. Commercial users who want Wikipedia’s vast repository of knowledge are also encouraged to use this official channel. 

The paid API is designed to allow companies to use Wikipedia content at scale and sustainably. This method avoids overloading Wikipedia's public servers, unlike the resource-intensive automated scraping.

The revenue generated from Wikimedia Enterprise helps in its nonprofit mission and facilitates the free knowledge ecosystem's contributions. The use of its paid API provides users with more efficient and structured content. Therefore, the foundation stresses using its Enterprise service, which offers clear benefits for AI companies that are looking for high-quality and up-to-date information.