"We're not asking for charity": Wikimedia CEO calls out AI for unpaid data use

Wikipedia page views fell 8% in 2025, new Wikimedia Foundation CEO Bernadette Meehan said, as AI models increasingly provide Wikipedia-derived information without driving traffic. Wikimedia charges large-scale commercial users for data access, with customers like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft covering 10% of operating expenses. Meehan said some AI companies won't pay, threatening the encyclopedia's ecosystem.