Worth noting attempts at non-profit search engines are not new. In 2015, Wikimedia Foundation attempted to start one called the “Knowledge Engine” using at least $250,000 from a grant. Wikipedia likely started the project as a response to Google’s use of “knowledge panels” based on Wikipedia Creative Commons license alongside search results in 2012, which reduced traffic to Wikipedia.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_Engine_(Wikimedia_...

Also worth noting that Google is a significant donor (and now enterprise customer) of Wikipedia, but unclear if this had any impact of Wikipedia’s choice not to continue the project.