How African volunteers are helping shape AI through Wikipedia

Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales. [Bernard Owrongo, Standard]

Volunteers in Africa are helping train the world’s artificial intelligence (AI) systems by contributing human-curated content to Wikipedia, the world’s largest online encyclopedia.

Their work ensures AI tools, search engines, and voice assistants have access to accurate and reliable information.

Companies including Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta access Wikipedia content through structured datasets to improve AI outputs and reduce errors.

Analysts note that as AI becomes part of daily life, the quality of its sources is critical for both users and developers.

Over 25 years, volunteers worldwide have written and edited millions of Wikipedia articles in more than 300 languages.

Human oversight is central, with content fact-checked and maintained under strict standards of neutrality.

Wikipedia sits at the heart of this system. Its 65 million articles are viewed nearly 15 billion times each month and have become a key dataset for AI.

“Wikipedia’s content powers AI in ways few realise, giving human insight to technologies that shape daily life,” said Maryana Iskander, Chief Executive Officer of the Wikimedia Foundation.

The Wikimedia Foundation has adopted an AI strategy that ensures volunteers remain central, with automated tools designed to support rather than replace human editors.

Investments in infrastructure, mobile applications, accessibility features, and new data centres have strengthened access, particularly in regions with growing mobile internet use.

Initiatives such as Abstract Wikipedia aim to expand content in underrepresented languages, enabling communities in Africa and beyond to contribute to and shape global knowledge.

“As billions come online in Africa, local communities will define what knowledge enters the global AI ecosystem,” noted Bobby Shabangu, Wikimedia Foundation Board Trustee.

The 25th anniversary also includes a digital time capsule and a video docuseries profiling volunteers, illustrating the human element behind AI-ready content.

“Even in an AI-driven world, people remain the backbone of knowledge,” said Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia Founder.

Experts note the unusual impact: a nonprofit project built by volunteers now underpins billions of AI queries and online searches daily.