Wikipedia — often seen as one of the last bastions of reliable information on the internet — is facing a noticeable drop in human traffic.

According to the Wikimedia Foundation, pageviews have fallen 8% year-over-year, a decline tied to the growing influence of generative AI and social video platforms that are changing how people seek knowledge online.

Marshall Miller, from the Wikimedia Foundation, revealed in a recent blog post that the dip in traffic became clear after improvements in bot detection systems. The update showed that a surge in visits during May and June was largely due to “bots designed to evade detection,” masking an actual decline in genuine user engagement.

But beyond technical explanations, Miller pointed to a deeper shift: people are no longer visiting traditional information sources as frequently. “Search engines are increasingly using generative AI to provide answers directly to searchers rather than linking to sites like ours,” he wrote. Meanwhile, younger audiences are turning to social video platforms for quick, visually driven answers instead of browsing the open web.

While Google disputes claims that AI summaries reduce referral traffic, the broader trend suggests that AI-generated content and short-form videos are reshaping the digital information landscape.

Wikipedia’s role remains vital

Despite fewer visitors, Miller emphasized that Wikipedia’s relevance hasn’t diminished. Much of the knowledge powering AI chatbots and search summaries originates from Wikipedia’s volunteer-created content. “Knowledge sourced from the encyclopedia is still reaching people, even if they don’t visit the website,” he noted.

Interestingly, Wikipedia has tested its own AI-driven summaries but paused the initiative after community editors raised concerns. The foundation is now exploring more transparent ways to attribute Wikipedia content when it’s used by AI systems and search engines.

Fewer visitors, fewer volunteers

The traffic decline raises significant challenges for Wikipedia’s ecosystem. With fewer visits, there’s a risk of reduced volunteer participation — the very people who write, edit, and verify articles. It may also impact small donations that help keep the nonprofit platform running.

Miller warned that “with fewer visits to Wikipedia, fewer volunteers may grow and enrich the content, and fewer individual donors may support this work.”

To address this, the foundation has launched initiatives to attract new readers and strengthen content integrity. Two dedicated teams are now focusing on outreach and developing frameworks that ensure proper credit when Wikipedia content fuels external platforms.

Miller urged users to consciously support human-curated knowledge. “When you search for information online, look for citations and click through to the original source material,” he advised. He also encouraged people to talk about the importance of trusted, volunteer-driven content and the human effort behind it.

He added that AI, search, and social platforms relying on Wikipedia’s data should also take responsibility — not just to use the content ethically, but to “encourage more visitors” to the site itself.