You remember incorrectly. It was a plan from a past Executive Director that never even started.
See https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=21700802 and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Guy_Macon/Wikipedia_has_C...
I do not believe that the above "It was a plan from a past Executive Director that never even started" claim is accurate. See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2...
Key quotes:
"In May 2015, Risker observed that a team called 'Search and Discovery' was 'extraordinarily well-staffed with a disproportionate number of engineers at the same time as other areas seem to be wanting for them'."
"We also know at some point it was an ambitious project to create a brand new search engine as an alternative to Google."