Wikipedia will no longer allow editors to refrain from writing or paraphrasing articles using AI. The new update, which was added to Wikipedia’s guidelines last week, cites the tendency for AI-written articles to violate several of Wikipedia’s core content policies hence being the reason behind the AI use ban.
The change applies to the English version of Wikipedia and will still allow editors to use AI only under certain scenarios. These include using large language models to “suggest basic copyedits.” Editors will also be able to use AI to translate articles from another language’s Wikipedia to English. However, they still must follow the site’s rules on LLM-assisted translations, which require editors to have sufficient knowledge of the original language.
Speedy Detection to help Wikipedia detect Ai content
A speedy detection of poorly written articles, as reported earlier by 404 Media will aid Wikipedia in ridding itself of AI content. Typically articles flagged for removal on Wikipedia enter a seven-day discussion period, during which community members determine whether the site should delete the article or not. The newly adopted rules will help Wikipedia administrators to circumvent these discussions if an article is tagged as AI-generated and was not reviewed by the person submitting it, the website will look for three main signs:
- Writing directed toward the user, such as “I hope that helps!”
- Nonsensical citations, including those with incorrect references to authors or publications.
- Non-existent references, like dead links, ISBNs with invalid checksums, or unresolvable DOIs.
Beyond that, editors have also put together a list of phrases and formatting characteristics that chatbot-written articles typically exhibit. The list includes elements like the excessive presence of em dashes in the articles, overuse of conjunctions like “moreover,” and adjectives such as “breathtaking.” The speedy removal page also recognizes the fact that these should not be the sole basis for determining whether something is AI-written or not. Pages that harass their readers will also be directly removed.
Wikipedia editors have been contending with AI-written content for months now, leading the community to allow for the “speedy deletion” of poorly written articles. Editors also formed Wiki Project AI Cleanup, an initiative meant to combat AI-written content.
