reasonable take: METR has some conflicts of interest with Anthropic, raising questions about whether they can evaluate truly independently
monkey's paw:
Aviya Skowron
@aviya.bsky.social
844 followers 404 following 88 posts
Head of Policy at EleutherAI. They/them. Working at the intersection of open source and AI policy. Former philosophlete.
![April 24, 2025
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. AKA Wikipedia
P.O. Box 98204
Washington, DC 20090-8204
VIA EMAIL: business@wikimedia.org
legal@wikimedia.org
To Whom it May Concern,
As the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, I regularly receive requests for
information, clarification, and official comment. I regard such inquiries with the seriousness they
warrant and respond appropriately through formal correspondence, such as this letter.
It has come to my attention that Wikipedia, which operates via its fiscal sponsor, the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., is engaging in a series of activities that could violate its obligations under
Section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. As a nonprofit corporation, which is
incorporated in the District of Columbia, the Wikimedia Foundation is subject to specific legal
obligations and fiduciary duties consistent with its tax-exempt status. In addition, the public is
entitled to rely on a reasonable expectation of neutrality, transparency, and accountability in its
operations and publications.
In its 2023 IRS Form 990, the Wikimedia Foundation describes its mission as, “empower[ing]
and engag[ing] people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free
license or in the public domain and to disseminate it effectively and globally. . . [.]”
As you know, Section 501(c)(3) requires that organizations receiving tax-exempt status operate
exclusively for “religious, charitable, scientific, testing for public safety, literary, or educational
purposes. . . [.]” It has come to my attention that the Wikimedia Foundation, through its wholly
owned subsidiary Wikipedia, is allowing foreign actors to manipulate information and spread](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:d52g57qhdyydkmwtuueco57q/bafkreihhp6g5zmurxfppfewzghbtoq53pwkxgjs4tmknvts3fz2jtxntsi)
