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In 2023, the Wikipedia community created a [[WikiProject]] named [[Wikipedia:WikiProject AI Cleanup|AI Cleanup]] to assist in the removal of poor quality AI content from Wikipedia. On October 2024, a study by [[Princeton University]] revealed that about 5% of 3,000 newly created articles (created on August 2024) on [[English Wikipedia]] were created using AI. The study said that some of the AI articles were on innocuous topics and that AI had likely only been used to assist in writing. For some other articles, AI had been used to promote [[Business|businesses]] or political interests.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Wu |first=Daniel |date=August 8, 2025 |title=Volunteers fight to keep 'AI slop' off Wikipedia |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/08/08/wikipedia-ai-generated-mistakes-editors/ |access-date= |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Stokel-Walker |first=Chris |date=November 1, 2024 |title=One in 20 new Wikipedia pages seem to be written with the help of AI |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/2454256-one-in-20-new-wikipedia-pages-seem-to-be-written-with-the-help-of-ai/ |url-access=subscription |access-date= |website=[[New Scientist]] |language=en-US}}</ref>
On December 6, 2022, a Wikipedia contributor named Pharos created the article "[[Artwork title]]" in his sandbox, declaring he used ChatGPT to experiment with it and would extensively modify it. Another editor tagged the article as "[[original research]]", arguing that the article was initially unsourced AI-generated content, and sourced afterwards, instead of being based on reliable sources from the outset. Another editor who experimented with this early version of ChatGPT said that ChatGPT's overview of the topic was decent, but that the citations were fabricated.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Harrison |first=Stephen |date=January 12, 2023 |title=Should ChatGPT Be Used to Write Wikipedia Articles? |url=https://slate.com/technology/2023/01/chatgpt-wikipedia-articles.html |website=[[Slate Magazine]]}}</ref> [[Wiki Education Foundation|The Wiki Education Foundation]] reported that some experienced editors found AI to be useful in starting drafts or creating new articles. It said that ChatGPT “knows” what Wikipedia articles look like and can easily generate one that is written in the style of Wikipedia, but warned that ChatGPT had a tendency to use promotional language, among other issues.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ross |first=Sage |date=February 21, 2023 |title=ChatGPT, Wikipedia, and student writing assignments |url=https://wikiedu.org/blog/2023/02/21/chatgpt-wikipedia-and-student-writing-assignments/ |website=[[Wiki Education Foundation]]}}</ref> Miguel García, a former Wikimedia member from Spain, said that when ChatGPT was originally launched, the number of AI-generated articles on the site peaked. He added that the rate of AI articles has now stabilized due to the community's efforts to combat it. He said that majority of the articles that have no sources are deleted instantly or are nominated for deletion.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bejerano |first=Pablo G. |date=August 10, 2024 |title=How Wikipedia is surviving in the age of ChatGPT |url=https://english.elpais.com/technology/2024-08-10/how-wikipedia-is-surviving-in-the-age-of-chatgpt.html |access-date= |website=[[El País]] |language=en-us}}</ref>
On August 2025, the Wikipedia community created a policy that allowed users to nominate suspected AI-generated articles for [[speedy deletion]]. Editors usually recognize AI-generated articles because they use citations that are not related to the subject of the article or fabricated citations. The wording of articles is also used to recognize AI writings. For example, if an article uses language that reads like an [[LLM]] response to a user, such as "Here is your Wikipedia article on” or “Up to my last training update”, the article is typically tagged for speedy deletion.<ref name=":02">{{Cite news |last=Wu |first=Daniel |date=August 8, 2025 |title=Volunteers fight to keep 'AI slop' off Wikipedia |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/08/08/wikipedia-ai-generated-mistakes-editors/ |access-date= |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Maiberg |first=Emanuel |date=August 5, 2025 |title=Wikipedia Editors Adopt 'Speedy Deletion' Policy for AI Slop Articles |url=https://www.404media.co/wikipedia-editors-adopt-speedy-deletion-policy-for-ai-slop-articles/ |access-date= |website=[[404 Media]] |language=en}}</ref> Other signs of AI use include excessive use of [[em dashes]], overuse of the word "moreover", promotional material in articles that describes something as "breathtaking” and formatting issues like using curly [[Quotation mark|quotation marks]] instead of straight versions. During the discussion on implementing the speedy deletion policy, one user, who is an article reviewer, said that he is “flooded non-stop with horrendous drafts” created using AI. Other users said that AI articles have a large amount of “lies and fake references” and that it takes a significant amount of time to fix the issues.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Roth |first=Emma |date=August 8, 2025 |title=How Wikipedia is fighting AI slop content |url=https://www.theverge.com/report/756810/wikipedia-ai-slop-policies-community-speedy-deletion |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250810012316/https://www.theverge.com/report/756810/wikipedia-ai-slop-policies-community-speedy-deletion |archive-date=August 10, 2025 |access-date= |website=[[The Verge]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Gills |first=Drew |date=August 8, 2025 |title=Read this: How Wikipedia identifies and removes AI slop |url=https://www.avclub.com/wikipedia-ai-slop-read-this |access-date= |website=[[AV Club]] |language=en-US}}</ref>
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