Generative AI has already shaken up industries from journalism to design — and now, it’s coming for one of the internet’s most trusted information sources: Wikipedia.
Over the past year, AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Google’s new AI Overviews have changed the way people search online, providing instant answers without sending users to traditional websites. As a result, Wikipedia has seen a sharp drop in traffic, signaling a major shift in how people access knowledge.
According to a blog post by Marshall Miller from the Wikimedia Foundation, page views on Wikipedia have fallen by about 8% compared to the same months in 2024. The decline became clear after Wikipedia’s bot-detection system discovered that much of the site’s previous traffic spikes came from bots disguised as real users.
But it’s not just AI replacing search — younger generations are turning to short-form video platforms like TikTok and YouTube Shorts for quick answers instead of visiting websites. A recent Adobe Express study found that 77% of Americans now use ChatGPT as a search engine, and nearly one in three trust it more than Google when looking for information.
Despite the decline, Miller insists Wikipedia’s influence remains strong. “Almost all large language models (LLMs) train on Wikipedia’s data, and platforms like Google and social media still rely on its information,” he explained. “So even if people don’t visit the site directly, they’re still reading knowledge created by Wikimedia volunteers.”
Ironically, Wikipedia itself experimented with AI-generated summaries to help users get faster answers — much like Google’s AI Overviews — but the feature was quickly dropped after volunteer editors pushed back. The platform continues to rely on its community of unpaid editors and public donations to keep running.
However, fewer visits could mean fewer active contributors and smaller donations, threatening the ecosystem that keeps Wikipedia accurate and updated.
The problem extends far beyond Wikipedia. Media outlets globally are reporting dramatic drops in web traffic as AI tools provide summaries directly in search results. DMG Media, which owns the Daily Mail, said Google’s AI Overviews led to an 89% drop in click-through rates for their stories.
Meanwhile, experts warn of the rise of “AI slop” — low-quality, misleading content mass-produced for clicks and ad revenue. This junk data is flooding the internet, making it harder than ever to separate real information from synthetic nonsense.
As AI continues to reshape how people search and learn, the question isn’t just whether Wikipedia can survive — but whether the open web itself can compete with an internet increasingly rewritten by machines.
