Wikipedia Traffic Decline Linked to AI Summaries and Bot Activity

Wikipedia has reported a significant drop in human traffic, attributing the decline to the rise of AI-generated summaries and sophisticated bot activity. After updating its detection systems in May, the platform identified that much of its previously inflated traffic came from bots masquerading as human visitors, primarily originating from Brazil.

The revised data reveals an 8% year-over-year decrease in page views, with Marshall Miller of Wikipedia citing generative AI and social media as key disruptors. "Search engines now provide direct answers to users, often sourced from Wikipedia content, reducing the need to visit the site itself," Miller noted.

The trend extends beyond Wikipedia. Pew Research data shows a sharp decline in referral traffic from Google Search to premium publishers, with losses outweighing gains by two-to-one. Over 60% of Google searches now result in AI summaries rather than directing users to original sources.