With the help of a bot named Lsjbot, Swede Sverker Johansson has authored 8.5 percent of Wikipedia´s entire collection, which makes for 2,7 million articles. I find it fascinating that a bot can author articles with such a high quality, something I wasn´t aware of before.

He has been particularly prolific cataloging obscure animal species, including butterflies and beetles, and is proud of his work highlighting towns in the Philippines. About one-third of his entries are uploaded to the Swedish language version of Wikipedia, and the rest are composed in two versions of Filipino, one of which is his wife's native tongue.

An administrator holding degrees in linguistics, civil engineering, economics and particle physics, he says he has long been interested in "the origin of things, oh, everything."

It isn't uncommon, however, for Wikipedia purists to complain about his method. That is because the bulk of his entries have been created by a computer software program—known as a bot. Critics say bots crowd out the creativity only humans can generate.

Mr. Johansson's program scrubs databases and other digital sources for information, and then packages it into an article. On a good day, he says his "Lsjbot" creates up to 10,000 new entries.

[...]

Mr. Johansson says his bot could be an inspiration to future authors who have knowledge outside the typical interests of standard Wikipedia contributors. He says a computer program can't write about everything.

"Wikipedia also needs writers to describe sentiments, literary quality, those kinds of things—my bot won't ever be able to do that," he says.

There are plenty who see value in his mission. Lennart Gulbrandsson, a representative for Wikipedia in Sweden, says "Sverker's work has proven its value" and many skeptics have converted into believers. Mr. Johansson says he is pained by those who continue to criticize him.

"It saddens me that some don't think of Lsjbot as a worthy author," he said. "I am a person; I am the one who created the bot. Without my work, all these articles would never have existed."

Sverker interviewed in Sweden: