Towards a practice of knowledge commoning: academics’ ethical duties to defend Wikipedia in the age of generative AI

Abstract Wikipedia is the most widely used reference work in history and one of the most valuable training resources available to the generative AI (genAI) industry; and yet that same industry is systematically undermining the conditions that make Wikipedia possible. GenAI companies extract Wikipedia’s corpus to train their products while redirecting users away from the encyclopedia. The result is declining readership, a shrinking volunteer base, and a growing threat to the encyclopedia’s long-term sustainability as a knowledge commons. This article examines that threat through the lens of commons theory, arguing that Wikipedia functions as a knowledge commons that is collaboratively constructed, transparently produced, and freely accessible, and that genAI-based tools operate as a force against it. Against this backdrop, the article makes the case that academics have a responsibility to defend Wikipedia and address the epistemic injustice caused by the genAI industry’s attempts to consolidate control over knowledge production.