Wikipedia under siege: how to future-proof the internet's last best place
Thu 16 April 2026
14:00
Free
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Wikipedia faces an existential crisis from two directions; from one side, there's disruption by artificial intelligence, from the other, attacks by those who politicise knowledge and want to control access to free, unbiased and neutral sources. And all this amid mounting scepticism and distrust of information providers.
For journalists who depend on it as a reliable starting point for research, attacks on Wikipedia's vulnerability are alarming amid attempts to offer alternatives that try to delegitimise the world's most consulted reference source.
The AI threat cuts deeper. While large language models like ChatGPT were trained on Wikipedia's meticulously curated content, they now cannibalise its traffic. The Wikimedia Foundation reports declining page views as users turn to AI chatbots for quick answers rather than visiting Wikipedia directly.
This creates a paradox; AI needs Wikipedia's reliable information to function, yet simultaneously undermines the volunteer editing community and donation model that sustains it.
Wikipedia operates at the intersection of two battles; defending against bad-faith political pressure while adapting to a world where AI seeks to intermediate access to knowledge. Can Wikipedia maintain its independence and reliability and remain the go-to source for free knowledge?
As Wikipedia turns 25 (January 2026), this panel brings together Anusha Alikhan, CCO of the Wikimedia Foundation, and Raju Narisetti, Wikimedia Foundation board member, to discuss the future of Wikipedia plans to survive—and what journalism loses if this commons is not thriving.
Moderated by Bobby Ghosh.
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Anusha Alikhan
Anusha Alikhan is Chief Communications Officer at the Wikimedia Foundation, the global nonprofit that operates Wikipedia, one of the top ten most visited websites in the world. Anusha has more than 18 years of communications experience spanning the areas of human rights, technology, knowledge access, international development, media innovation, gender equity, and journalism. Before joining the Wikimedia Foundation, she was the Communications Director for Knight Foundation, a leading funder of journalism and media innovation. She previously served as a Communications Officer with the United Nations, advancing global peacekeeping initiatives. She has also worked as a freelance journalist and editor covering local news and events in New York City. Before that, Anusha practiced employment and human rights law in her hometown of Toronto, Canada. She serves on the boards of The Communications Network and National Urban Fellows. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from New York University, a law degree from Queen’s University in Ontario, and an honors bachelor of arts from the University of Toronto. She is based in Miami, Florida.
Bobby Ghosh
Aparisim ""Bobby"" Ghosh is an Indian-born American journalist. He is a columnist and commentator on world politics for a variety of media organisations. He was a senior editor at Bloomberg, based in New York, until 2025. Before Bloomberg, he served as editor-in-chief of the Hindustan Times until November 2017. Prior to that, he was managing editor of the business news website Quartz and TIME Magazine's international editor. He was also TIME's Baghdad bureau chief, and one of the longest-serving correspondents in Iraq. He has written stories from other conflict areas, including Palestine and Kashmir. He has also worked for Time Asia and Time Europe and has covered subjects as varied as technology and football, business and social trends. He started his career as a journalist with Deccan Chronicle, a popular English daily, in Visakhapatnam, India.
Raju Narisetti
Raju Narisetti’s current role as Partner, Global Publishing at McKinsey & Company is the latest in a 32-year global career in media and publishing, during which he has created, reimagined and managed major media organizations in North America, Europe and Asia, as well as being on the frontlines of digital transformation challenges and new ventures in publishing. Raju worked as a journalist at The Wall Street Journal where, over 14 years, he went from a Reporting Intern to be the Editor of WSJ Europe, and later Managing Editor, Digital, of the global WSJ, and part of a team that won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News for 9/11 coverage. At The Washington Post, Raju was the Managing Editor who helped start and shape the newspaper's print/digital transformation. At both WSJ and Washington Post, Raju was the youngest and first person of color on their mastheads. Raju is also the founder of Mint , India's business news brand. After his journalism stint, as a media business executive, he was Senior Vice President of Strategy for News Corp, and later CEO of the Gizmodo Media Group, which then encompassed a group of digital journalism sites that included Gizmodo, The Onion, Jezebel, DeadSpin, Lifehacker, and The Root. Prior to joining McKinsey in 2020, he was a journalism educator, leading the Knight Bagehot Fellowships in Economics and Business Journalism at Columbia University, where he also was a Professor of Professional Practice at the School of Journalism. An alum of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leader cohort, Raju is also a Board Trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation, which oversees and supports the global Wikimedia platform, and where he heads the Talent & Culture Committee.
Festival Internazionale del Giornalismo
Il Festival Internazionale del Giornalismo di Perugia è un evento annuale che riunisce professionisti dei media, esperti di comunicazione e appassionati di informazione da tutto il mondo. Si svolge nel centro storico di Perugia e offre conferenze, dibattiti, workshop e opportunità di networking sui temi più rilevanti del giornalismo contemporaneo.
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