Wikipedia traffic falls 8% as AI-powered search reshapes how users find information: Report
Wikipedia is feeling the brunt of internet users increasingly relying on AI tools to research topics of interest to them, with traffic to the online encyclopedia down 8% last year, Axios reported Friday.
Whether users search on Google or ask ChatGPT a question, Wikipedia remains one of the key sources large language models use to generate detailed, factual responses.
Wikimedia Foundation CEO Bernadette Meehan told Axios that some companies are unwilling to pay for this vast body of human-generated information that underpins many of their AI chatbots.
While Meehan didn’t identify the companies unwilling to pay, OpenAI and Anthropic — two of the largest AI companies — are not listed among Wikimedia’s publicly disclosed enterprise customers, Axios reported.
Meehan said Wikimedia has other payment agreements with enterprise customers that are private.
Fox News Digital reached out to OpenAI and Anthropic for comment.
