Artificial intelligence also affected Wikipedia: Noticeable decline!
The rise of AI-powered search summaries and social video platforms is rapidly changing how we access information online. The most striking example of this transformation is Wikipedia's recent traffic decline.
NOTABLE TRAFFIC LOSS ON WIKIPEDIAWikipedia is losing traffic due to AI search summaries and social video platforms.
According to a new blog post by Marshall Miller of the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikipedia's human-generated page views are down 8% from last year.
The foundation is working to separate human and bot traffic. According to TechCrunch, Miller noted that this decline, which has occurred "over the past few months," was noticed following an update to Wikipedia's bot detection systems. This update revealed that much of the unusually high traffic seen in May and June came from bots designed to evade detection.
Miller highlights the "impact of generative AI and social media on information-seeking behavior." He notes that search engines increasingly offer AI-powered direct answers, meaning users are no longer clicking through to sites like Wikipedia. He also notes that younger generations prefer to access information through social video platforms rather than the open web.
Miller argues that the foundation "welcomes new ways for people to access information," and that this doesn't diminish Wikipedia's importance. He points out that information from the encyclopedia still reaches people, just without having to visit the website.
Wikipedia had also tested its own AI summarization system but stopped the experiment after complaints from editors.
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