Wikipedia Traffic Declines 8% as AI Search and Social Video Change How People Find Information
Wikipedia, long hailed as one of the internet’s last bastions of reliable, human-curated knowledge, is now feeling the pinch from the rise of generative AI and social media. The Wikimedia Foundation has reported an 8% year-over-year drop in human pageviews, according to a new post by Marshall Miller, the foundation’s Vice President of Product. The decline, Miller noted, became clear after an update to Wikipedia’s bot detection system revealed that much of the earlier traffic spike in May and June came from bots rather than real users.
Miller attributes the fall in traffic to sweeping changes in how people seek information online. Generative AI systems embedded in search engines now summarize answers directly on results pages, reducing the need for users to click through to original sources. At the same time, younger audiences are turning to short-form social video platforms like TikTok and YouTube Shorts for quick information rather than traditional web searches. While Google disputes the claim that AI summaries reduce referral traffic, Wikipedia’s data reflects the shifting tide of online behavior.
Despite the dip in visits, Miller insists this doesn’t make Wikipedia less relevant. “Knowledge sourced from Wikipedia is still reaching people,” he wrote, emphasizing that even if readers don’t visit the site directly, its influence underpins much of the internet’s factual foundation. The foundation had even experimented with its own AI-generated summaries but paused the project after community editors raised concerns about transparency and editorial control.
However, the trend raises long-term concerns for the platform’s sustainability. Fewer site visits could mean fewer active volunteers to update and expand content—and fewer small donors to fund the non-profit’s operations. Miller warned that declining visibility might weaken the collaborative ecosystem that has kept Wikipedia thriving for over two decades. Notably, some of those volunteers recently made headlines for their bravery, reportedly disarming a gunman during a Wikipedia editors’ conference last week.
To counter the decline, the Wikimedia Foundation is working on new strategies to re-engage readers and ensure proper attribution for content sourced from the encyclopedia. Miller urged AI developers, search engines, and social platforms that rely on Wikipedia’s data to “encourage more visitors” to the site itself. He also called on internet users to support trustworthy information by clicking through to original sources and recognizing that behind every AI summary are “real people who deserve their support.”
source: techcrunch