It’s horrible to see two imperfect bed-fellows effectively come crashing together- but that is what we are starting to see.
- Wiki was and still is the most trusted place for accurate and non-biased information. But ChatGPT is closing fast.
- Wiki needs a search engine such as Google to make its information accessible. ChatGPT performs both functions and uses natural language.
- ChatGPT allows, nay, encourages nuance in the input / output. Valuing context and style over formal structure and strict accuracy.
- ChatGPT needs Wiki. They are imperfect bed fellows, for a while at least. Wiki only retains its long-term value if volunteer contributors work on it and ChatGPT doesn’t make that easy – maybe they should.
- ChatGPT currently gives nothing back, and in a world where we expect the moon on a stick for free in return for focused advertising and loss of our privacy, ChatGPT are better positioned.
- Maybe ChatGPT should fork and rewrite Wiki
So, mostly, this comes down to a) the gateway into Wiki and b) money.
For those taking the ad-supported route, then free Google with its dense advertising and quasi-AI output will likely continue to feed Wikipedia. Ace, if there ever was a positive of ad-supported services, this is it. The irony is not lost.
For those who sack off Google search due to a worsening experience and go all in with ChatGPT (other AI chatbots are available) will likely still “see” Wiki data but re-factored via transformer technology to provide almost as accurate, but way more engaging output.
Perhaps ChatGPT subscribers should be encouraged to pay a “Wiki add-on fee” and in return get some hyper-indexed version which blends the best of these two bed fellows together.
