A massive new feature that Wikipedia has recently dropped for testing has been pulled out, and the company pivoted on the idea after its short availability as complaints rolled out before it could even settle down. “AI Summaries” was Wikipedia’s version of integrating generative artificial intelligence into its platform to better help users understand a specific page without having to sift through the entire content.
However, editors themselves were frustrated with the idea when it was made available, with many calling out the Wikimedia Foundation for this, with some going as far as to call it “harmful.”
Wikipedia Pivots on AI Summaries, Now Removed
A new report shared by 404 Media has shed light on the recent changes that happened over at Wikipedia, particularly as the company recently pivoted on its AI Summaries feature on the platform. The feature that the company initially tested earlier this month is now removed, particularly as it faced a significant backlash from editors and several users in this initiative.
The feature centers on select Wiki pages only, with their generative AI model offering summaries of the content that would appear on top of the main articles but is in collapsed form.
The Wikimedia Foundation piloted the feature this June 2 according to ArsTechnica, centering on a two-week testing phase on the platform’s mobile version where users have to expand on the box to read the AI-generated summary.
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Editors Callout Wikipedia, Calls Feature ‘Harmful’
Editors were the most frustrated with Wikipedia’s AI-generated summaries feature, with various contributors sharing their issues and problems on the experience, with some going as far as to say that they are “harmful” to the user, editor, and platform itself.
Others noted that Wikipedia should not have explored this feature despite other platforms like Google offering a type of AI summaries for users.
Some comments went as far as to call the feature “yuck” or an “insult” to readers and the like.
AI Summaries Feature on Platforms, Websites
Artificial intelligence is now the name of the game, and many companies are fielding different experiences and features that bring the technology to users, with them having the goal of sharing better information. Google is known for offering a type of AI summaries for search results which is now known as “AI Overviews,” giving users a gist of all the gathered results for users to get a general view of their query.
On-device AI experiences from companies that offer them are also taking advantage of machine learning technologies to summarize content for them, and it is available on multiple platforms. Apple Intelligence’s arrival last year also gave users a version of this which is known as ‘AI Notification Summaries’ which displays AI-generated gists of messages, emails, and other types of notifications that come through.
Android also has its version of message summaries coming from Gemini.
As more AI integrations become available to users, many companies want to simplify more of the various experiences found online to make it easier for all to catch up in this fast-paced world. However, not all are open to these types of features, particularly as it could worsen the experiences instead of giving better ones, with Wikipedia now taking note of what users and editors prefer.
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