Wikipedia turns 25, cements role as backbone of global internet

Wikipedia marked its 25th anniversary on Wednesday, underscoring its transformation from a modest online experiment into one of the most critical pieces of infrastructure underpinning today’s internet, search engines and artificial intelligence systems.

Launched in 2001 as a free, collaborative encyclopedia, Wikipedia is now among the world’s top ten most visited websites and the only one operated by a nonprofit organisation. More than 65 million articles, published in over 300 languages, are viewed nearly 15 billion times each month and serve as a foundational data source for search platforms, voice assistants and generative AI tools used by billions of people worldwide.

“Wikipedia has become integral to the architecture of the entire internet. Its scale, reliability and openness have made it indispensable to how information is discovered, shared and reused online,” said Maryana Iskander, chief executive officer of the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that operates the platform.

While rarely visible to users, Wikipedia’s influence extends far beyond its own website. Technology companies, newsrooms, academic institutions and digital platforms routinely rely on Wikipedia’s content to power search results, fact panels, AI models and reference tools. In recent years, that dependence has only deepened as artificial intelligence systems increasingly draw on Wikipedia’s human-verified knowledge to train large language models.

Wikipedia’s reach has grown alongside major internet milestones, weathering technological disruptions, regulatory shifts and rising misinformation. Its ability to adapt, the Foundation says, has been anchored in continuous investment in infrastructure, from expanded data centres and faster load times to mobile apps, improved accessibility features and a redesigned desktop interface.

Despite its scale, Wikipedia remains free to use, ad-free and community-governed, a rarity in an internet dominated by commercial platforms.

Central to the AI economy

As AI reshapes the digital economy, Wikipedia’s role has become even more pronounced. The platform is widely regarded as one of the highest-quality open datasets available, making it a critical input for generative AI systems.

To manage that growing demand responsibly, the Wikimedia Foundation has expanded Wikimedia Enterprise, a commercial platform that allows large-scale reuse of Wikipedia content by corporations under structured agreements that help sustain the nonprofit ecosystem. Over the past year, new partners have included Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Meta, Mistral AI, Perplexity, Ecosia and ProRata, joining an expanding roster of technology firms that depend on Wikimedia data.

“Access to high-quality, trustworthy information is at the heart of how we think about the future of AI. Our partnership with Wikimedia helps ensure a sustainable and responsible knowledge ecosystem for the AI internet,” said Tim Frank, corporate vice president at Microsoft.

Alongside these partnerships, Wikimedia has rolled out an AI strategy designed to support, not replace, its global community of volunteer editors, directing investments toward tools that reduce technical barriers and allow contributors to focus on judgment, verification and editorial oversight.

A global, human-powered network

At the core of Wikipedia’s success is its volunteer community. Nearly 250,000 editors around the world write, edit and fact-check content according to strict standards of neutrality and sourcing. Their work has enabled Wikipedia to expand coverage in underserved regions, languages and subject areas over the past two decades.

Africa has emerged as a growing contributor to this ecosystem, with increasing investment in skills development, local language content and community-led innovation. Nigerian volunteers, among others, have played a rising role in documenting local history, culture and public life, strengthening Wikipedia’s relevance across the continent.

“Africa will be central to the next chapter of Wikipedia. As the next billion users come online, the continent’s voices will shape how global knowledge is represented,” said Bobby Shabangu, a trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation.

Marking 25 years

To commemorate the anniversary, the Wikimedia Foundation launched a global “Wikipedia 25” campaign featuring a new video docuseries spotlighting volunteer editors, a digital time capsule chronicling the platform’s evolution, and interactive tools inviting users to imagine Wikipedia’s future. A year-long programme of virtual and in-person events is planned throughout 2026.

Founder Jimmy Wales reflected on Wikipedia’s unlikely rise. “No one knew if it would succeed,” he said. “Yet against all odds, Wikipedia has grown into the backbone of knowledge on the internet, proving what people can build together in the spirit of trust and collaboration.”

Looking ahead

As governments, businesses and AI systems grow increasingly dependent on shared digital knowledge, Wikimedia says Wikipedia’s next phase will focus on sustainability, representation and resilience. Efforts are underway to close language and knowledge gaps, strengthen technical infrastructure and engage younger contributors through new formats and platforms.

For Wikipedia, the anniversary is less a celebration of longevity than of relevance. Twenty-five years on, the platform’s quiet but essential presence across the digital ecosystem has made it not just a website, but a foundational layer of the modern internet, one that continues to be built, line by line, by people around the world.

Royal Ibeh is a senior journalist with years of experience reporting on Nigeria’s technology and health sectors. She currently covers the Technology and Health beats for BusinessDay newspaper, where she writes in-depth stories on digital innovation, telecom infrastructure, healthcare systems, and public health policies.

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