Ilario, I have not had time to read this yet, but I want to thank you for the initiative. We need many such independent, creative responses to the moment.
On Thu, Jan 29, 2026 at 9:19 AM Ilario valdelli via Wikimedia-l < [email protected]> wrote: > Dear all, > > I’d like to share that Wikimedia CH and Open Future have published the > report from our Lausanne roundtable “Collective Intelligence vs Artificial > Intelligence” (4 Nov 2025), co-organised with Open Future and IMD Business > School. > > I also want to add a bit of context on *why* we did this, because it > comes out of a very concrete moment for many of us: over the past year, it > has sometimes felt like “Wikimedia + AI” discussions were happening > everywhere, yet at the same time the community’s shared space for > sensemaking was getting thinner — less clarity, less common ground, and > more uncertainty about where to focus limited time and resources. > Internally at WMCH, we reached a point where we needed to step back and > ask: *what should we do in this period, and where should we allocate our > resources in a way that is useful for the Movement?* > > From that starting point, we began working with external partners to > improve our understanding of what is changing in the information ecosystem. > Among others, we exchanged with the AI research ecosystem in Switzerland > (e.g., IDSIA - Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence of Lugano) > and, together with input from Open Future, we converged on a simple idea: > instead of debating AI only through the lens of “editing with AI tools”, we > should widen the circle and ask experts from outside the Movement what they > see coming — and what it could mean for a knowledge commons like Wikimedia. > > That led to the Lausanne roundtable: a deliberately “cross-ecosystem” > discussion with people working in areas such as AI development and data > science, journalism and media, research, and public-interest policy, > alongside people from the Wikimedia ecosystem. The goal was not to produce > a single answer, but to map the key tensions and update our collective > assumptions about the near future — and to do it in a way that is > transparent and shareable with the wider community. > > The report summarises those insights and frames the emergence of a “new > knowledge loop”, in which AI services increasingly become interfaces to > knowledge. One concern raised is disintermediation: Wikimedia content can > be heavily used by machines while fewer humans visit Wikimedia projects > directly — with potential consequences for participation, feedback loops, > and long-term sustainability. At the same time, the report argues there is > no “going back”: AI influence is not avoidable, and the open question is > how collective intelligence and AI can be combined while keeping Wikimedia > human-centred. > > A quick note on intent and framing: this is a *civic sensemaking* effort. > It is not a proposal to restrict open access for people, and it is not an > attempt to tell the Movement what to do. The underlying question is: *how > do we keep the commons open and accessible to everyone, while making its > large-scale reuse sustainable and accountable?* In other words, how do we > avoid a future where knowledge remains technically “open” but becomes > practically concentrated behind a few AI interfaces? > > This report is also meant as a first step. There is the plan to develop a > draft white paper in 2026, building on these insights, to outline possible > strategic directions and reactions — not only for WMCH, but as a > contribution that other communities, affiliates, and interested Wikimedians > can critique, improve, and build on. > > Links: > > - Meta page (context + deliverables): > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_CH/Innovation/CI_vs_AI#Deliverables > - PDF on Commons: > https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_CH_REPORT_AI_v4_web.pdf > > Feedback is very welcome. > -- > Ilario Valdelli > Innovation programme lead > Wikimedia CH > Verein zur Förderung Freien Wissens > Association pour l’avancement des connaissances libre > Associazione per il sostegno alla conoscenza libera > http://www.wikimedia.ch > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list -- [email protected], guidelines > at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > Public archives at > https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/GROBMQOEE3XXHW54B5KSPHKXD2W5F7VI/ > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]
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