The online encyclopedia Wikipedia is seeing a significant decline in traffic, with generative artificial intelligence, including ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews, cited as the main factor. According to the Wikimedia Foundation, users are increasingly less likely to go directly to the site, receiving answers from bots based on Wikipedia content itself.
Human page views fell 8% compared to the same period in 2024, said Marshall Miller, head of community development at the Wikimedia Foundation. At the same time, analytics showed that some of the traffic came from bots that bypass detection systems, indicating the active use of AI systems to collect information from Wikipedia.
Generative AI has significantly changed user behavior. “Search engines now provide answers directly to users, often based on data from Wikipedia,” Miller notes.
Adobe Express research confirms this trend: 77% of Americans who use ChatGPT perceive it as a search engine, and 30% trust AI more than Google or Bing. In addition, younger generations are increasingly searching for information on short-form video platforms such as TikTok, YouTube Shorts, or Instagram Reels, bypassing the traditional web.
This change calls into question Wikipedia's role as the main source of knowledge on the web and shows the impact of generative AI on users' information habits.
