Wikipedia urges AI companies to use its paid API, and stop scraping

Finally, Wikipedia's playing hardball. This is actually smart.

The scraping problem's real—Wikipedia traffic's tanking while AI companies freely extract value. A paid API forces AI companies into a transaction, which is both fairer and harder to ignore than begging.

But here's the thing: Wikipedia's leverage is less absolute than they think. Their content's valuable, sure, but not irreplaceable (Britannica's cheaper, web's full of alternatives). Most big AI companies will negotiate quietly, pay if the volume justifies it, or route around it. The small players? They'll just keep scraping.

Still—this is how you push back. Not performative "please stop," but "pay if you want it."