What's Happening?
The Wikimedia Foundation has reported an 8% decline in human visits to Wikipedia over recent months compared to the same period in 2024. This decrease is attributed to changes in how people search for
information online, with a significant impact from generative AI and social media platforms. The Foundation revised its methods for distinguishing between human and bot traffic, revealing that a perceived spike in traffic from Brazil was primarily bot-driven. The decline in human traffic is linked to search engines providing direct answers on results pages, often using Wikipedia content, and younger users turning to platforms like YouTube and TikTok for information.
Why It's Important?
The decline in Wikipedia's human traffic has significant implications for the platform's sustainability. With fewer visits, the volunteer base that writes and edits Wikipedia content may shrink, potentially affecting the quality and breadth of information available. Additionally, reduced traffic could lead to a decrease in individual donations, which are crucial for the nonprofit's operations. This situation is particularly ironic given that large language models rely heavily on Wikipedia's datasets for training, yet their use may inadvertently harm one of their primary sources of reliable information. Wikimedia is urging AI and search platforms to help redirect traffic back to Wikipedia.
What's Next?
In response to these challenges, the Wikimedia Foundation is working to ensure responsible access and reuse of Wikipedia content by third parties. This includes enforcing policies and developing clearer attribution standards. The Foundation is also exploring new ways to engage younger audiences through platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Roblox, and Instagram, using videos, games, and chatbots. Additionally, Wikimedia has launched the Wikidata Embedding Project to provide AI systems with access to higher-quality data, aiming to improve the accuracy of AI-generated answers.
