Researchers Are Using AI To Improve Wikipedia

It's no secret that Wikipedia is one of the most used websites in the world for its vast collection of information, covering almost every topic imaginable. 

In fact, it has consistently been listed as one of the top 10 most used websites in the world, with over 41.4 million registered users in its English version. 

However, according to the website itself, it should not be seen as a reliable source of information, with experts claiming that an estimated 13% of articles contain factual errors.

SIDE Helps Correct Wikipedia Errors With AI

To address this problem, AI-powered knowledge discovery platform Samaya AI created SIDE, a system that helps with fact-checking Wikipedia and improving the quality of its references.

Samaya AI used high-quality, featured Wikipedia articles to train SIDE before it recommended references that it believed would improve and strengthen claims found in the articles.

The researchers discovered that 21% of users preferred the references provided by SIDE, double the percentage of those that preferred the original references (10%).

Despite this, SIDE will still need work, and scientists believe that the system still requires human oversight.

"The system could be useful in flagging those potentially-not-fitting citations," explained Aleksandra Urman, a scientist at Zurich University. "But then again, the question really is what the Wikipedia community would find the most useful."

Musk to Wikipedia: Change Name to 'Dickipedia' for $1B

Meanwhile, tech billionaire Elon Musk taunted the knowledge-based website to change its name to "Dickipedia" in exchange for $1 billion. 

I will give them a billion dollars if they change their name to Dickipedia https://t.co/wxoHQdRICy

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 22, 2023

"In the interests of accuracy," Musk went on. 

The taunt reportedly stems from Musk's ongoing feud with Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Whales, who earlier stated that the website was "not for sale." 

Additionally, Musk questioned why the Wikimedia Foundation wants a large sum of money when it "certainly isn't needed to operate Wikipedia." 

"You can literally fit a copy of the entire text on your phone! So, what’s the money for?" he added.

Under the same post, Musk was targeted by the Community Notes feature, which broke down the expenses needed to operate the website. 

Have you ever wondered why the Wikimedia Foundation wants so much money?

It certainly isn’t needed to operate Wikipedia. You can literally fit a copy of the entire text on your phone!

So, what’s the money for? Inquiring minds want to know …

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 22, 2023

According to the note which referenced Wikimedia, the $146 million budget goes directly into funding engineering improvements, grants and projects, the administration, and fundraising.

Edited by Nikola Djuric