The Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) reported a decline in human pageviews on Wikipedia compared with the same months last year.
Marshall Miller, Senior Director of Product, Core Experiences at Wikimedia Foundation, wrote that the organization believes the decline reflects changes in how people access information, particularly through AI search and social platforms.
What Changed In The Data
Wikimedia observed unusually high traffic around May. The traffic appeared human but investigation revealed bots designed to evade detection.
WMF updated its bot detection systems and applied the new logic to reclassify traffic from March through August.
Miller noted the revised data shows “a decrease of roughly 8% as compared to the same months in 2024.”
WMF cautions that comparisons require careful interpretation because bot detection rules changed over time.
The Role Of AI Search
Miller attributed the decline to generative AI and social platforms reshaping information discovery.
He wrote that search engines are “providing answers directly to searchers, often based on Wikipedia content.”
This creates a scenario where Wikipedia serves as source material for AI-powered search features without generating traffic to the site itself.
Wikipedia’s Role In AI Systems
The traffic decline comes as AI systems increasingly depend on Wikipedia as source material.
Research from Profound analyzing 680 million AI citations finds that within ChatGPT’s top 10 most-cited sources, Wikipedia accounts for 47.9% of the top-10 share. For Google AI Overviews, Wikipedia’s top-10 share is 5.7%, with Reddit 21.0% and YouTube 18.8%.
WMF also reported a 50% surge in bandwidth from AI bots since January 2024. These bots scrape content primarily for training computer vision models.
Wikipedia launched Wikimedia Enterprise in 2021, offering commercial, SLA-backed data access for high-volume reusers, including search and AI companies.
Why This Matters
If Wikipedia loses traffic while serving as ChatGPT’s most-cited source, the model that sustains content creation is breaking. You can produce authoritative content that AI systems depend on and still see referral traffic decline.
The incentive structure assumes publishers benefit from creating material that powers AI answers, but Wikipedia’s data shows that assumption doesn’t hold.
Track how AI features affect your traffic and whether being cited translates to meaningful engagement.
Looking Ahead
WMF says it will continue updating bot detection systems and monitoring how generative AI and social media shape information access.
Wikipedia remains a core dataset for modern search and AI systems, even when users don’t visit the site directly. Publishers should expect similar dynamics as AI search features expand across platforms.
Featured Image: Ahyan Stock Studios/Shutterstock
