Launch of Mosaic: a mission for the knowledge commons in the age of AI

Wikimania 2026 took place in Paris in July, marking the 25th Anniversary of Wikipedia. One of the key themes addressed at the conference was the impact of AI technologies on Wikimedia and how they can be used to support free knowledge.

We took this opportunity to launch our new white paper, published in collaboration with Wikimedia Switzerland and titled Wikimedia, the commons, and the new AI knowledge loop. A mission for 2030. We also organized two connected events in partnership with the AI-BRIDGES initiative: an invitation-only roundtable and a public session at the conference. These events aimed to launch Mosaic, a consortium of organizations that steward the knowledge commons and build public AI solutions. Mosaic will support the mission outlined in the white paper.The Mosaic mission is carried out by a consortium of organisations that manage the knowledge commons and develop public AI solutions.

Knowledge Commons in the age of AI

The roundtable discussion, Knowledge Commons in the age of AI, took place on Tuesday 21 July at the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Organized with the Wikimedia Foundation, the Digital Public Goods Alliance, Wikimedia Deutschland and Wikimedia France. The event brought together over thirty stewards of the commons, AI developers, and representatives of the public and non-profit sectors to discuss two key themes from the white paper: how the new knowledge loop should be governed, and what infrastructure is required for a public AI stack for the commons.

Audrey Tang gave the keynote speech, and Philippe Lonné (BnF), Lea Gimpel (DPGA), Nur Fadel (CSCS/Apertus), and João Alexandre Peschansky (Wikimedia Movimento Brasil) contributed to the discussion. Henri Verdier (Inria Foundation) and Jimmy Wales (Wikimedia Foundation Board) made closing remarks.

Public Launch of Mosaic

On Saturday 25 July, we publicly launched Mosaic at Wikimania during the session Launch of Mosaic: the mission for open stewardship of AI and the commons (watch the recording). The response in the room was broadly supportive. Representatives of both Wikimedia affiliates and other organizations present at Wikimania expressed their support for the mission. A discussion of the proposed mission focused on the need for a more clearly defined impact, and the difference that Mosaic wants to make in the emerging AI ecosystem. These questions will guide the first phase of Mosaic, as we develop a collective roadmap based on the white paper proposal.

A Path Forward for Mosaic

Three strands of work emerged from the conversations:

The first is the need for shared infrastructure: small, open models that are aligned with tWikipedia’s principles (showing provenance, preserving context, and ensuring multilingualism).
The second is the shaping of the new knowledge loop through governance, policy, and advocacy: coordinated negotiation with AI developers, regulation that makes them accountable, and unresolved questions of reciprocity and licensing.
The third strand—not present in the white paper—emerged during the roundtable: the importance of literacy and education.

We also agreed that the Geneva AI Summit in 2027 is an important milestone, especially for ecosystem shaping work. Therefore, our efforts in the coming months will also focus on ensuring that issues important to knowledge commons are on the agenda of this event.

Mosaic is deliberately not a new institution. It is a mission: a shared direction, without central leadership, built from work that organizations are already doing. Participating organizations are asked to sign a simple Statement of Intent—please get in touch if you want to sign it as well, and to join the mission.