wikiHow

wikiHow is an American collaborative online publisher of step-by-step instructional guides, often described as the largest how-to manual on the internet. It was founded in 2005 by Jack Herrick and Josh Hannah, building on Herrick's earlier experience with the wiki-based e-commerce site eHow, and it is operated by the privately held company wikiHow, Inc., based in Palo Alto, California. The site is not a conventional encyclopedia: its unit of content is the practical task, and its articles typically combine numbered steps, illustrations or photos, tips, warnings, and sometimes video, covering topics from cooking and home repair to relationships, careers, technology, and personal finance. The brand's model is community authorship moderated by a hybrid system of volunteer editors and paid staff. Anyone can start or edit an article, and a review process — including a team of editors and a network of experienced volunteers — checks contributions for accuracy, clarity, and adherence to the site's style guide. wikiHow has long invested in illustration and photography so that guides are visually consistent, and it has expanded into mobile apps, localized editions in many languages, and licensed content partnerships. Its revenue has historically come from advertising and sponsored content rather than subscriptions. Culturally, wikiHow is known both for the breadth of its catalogue and for a distinctive editorial voice and illustration style that have become recognizable internet memes. The company has also been an early and heavy user of machine learning and, later, generative AI to help draft, translate, and quality-check articles, while publicly emphasizing human review. It remains independent and privately held, with no stock listing, and positions itself as a free, universally accessible knowledge resource rather than a premium subscription product.

wikiHow grew out of Jack Herrick's earlier venture, eHow, a wiki-style how-to site that he sold in the mid-2000s. Rather than leave the format behind, Herrick partnered with investor Josh Hannah and launched wikiHow in 2005 as an explicitly wiki-based, community-edited manual, structured around the idea that practical instructions could be written collaboratively and improved over time like an encyclopedia article. The company was set up as an independent, privately held business headquartered in Palo Alto, California, and it deliberately adopted a permissive editing model in which any reader could create or revise a page. Early growth depended on building both a large catalogue and a workable quality-control system. wikiHow developed a patrolling and review process in which experienced volunteers and staff editors checked new contributions, merged duplicates, and enforced a detailed style guide. The site also invested heavily in visual consistency, commissioning illustrations and later photographs so that guides looked uniform regardless of author. This combination of open contribution and strong editorial scaffolding became the brand's defining characteristic. Through the 2010s wikiHow expanded internationally, launching localized editions in numerous languages and releasing mobile apps that made its guides accessible on phones, where much of its audience increasingly read them. It also experimented with video, quizzes, and licensed distribution of its content to other platforms. Revenue came primarily from advertising and sponsored placements, allowing the core library to remain free. In the 2020s the company became an early adopter of machine learning and generative AI in its editorial pipeline, using automation to help draft, translate, and screen articles while insisting that human editors retained final review. wikiHow has remained independent and privately held, without a public listing, and continues to operate as one of the most-visited instructional websites in the world.

• 2005

  wikiHow founded by Jack Herrick and Josh Hannah as a wiki-based how-to site.

• Launch of localized international editions in multiple languages.

• Release of wikiHow mobile apps for smartphone access.

• Adoption of machine learning and generative AI tools in the editorial and translation workflow.

Free, community-authored, universally accessible practical knowledge — the internet's how-to manual, monetized through advertising rather than subscriptions.

• wikiHow.com

  Free library of step-by-step how-to articles across practical topics.

• wikiHow mobile apps

  iOS and Android apps for reading and contributing to guides.

• Localized editions

  Language-specific versions of the site for international audiences.

• 2026

  WikiHow sues OpenAI over AI training on copyrighted articles

  WikiHow filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that OpenAI scraped and copied WikiHow's human-authored, expert-verified how-to articles without a license or payment in order to train and operate ChatGPT. The suit further alleges that ChatGPT reproduces the substance of WikiHow articles, which deprives WikiHow of page visits and advertising revenue.

  Source

Read more

• 2026.08.25

  Reported2026.08.25

  WikiHow sues OpenAI over AI training on copyrighted articles[2]WikiHow sues OpenAI over AI training on copyrighted articlesmedianama.com

  WikiHow filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that OpenAI scraped and copied WikiHow's human-authored, expert-verified how-to articles without a license or payment to train and operate ChatGPT, and that ChatGPT reproduces the substance of WikiHow articles, depriving WikiHow of page visits and advertising revenue.

Read more

1. 1wikiHow official websitewikihow.com
2. 2WikiHow sues OpenAI over AI training on copyrighted articlesmedianama.com