Khaberni - The Wikimedia Foundation, which oversees Wikipedia, emphasized a drop in human visitor numbers over the recent months, recording an 8% decline compared to the same period in 2024, as revealed by Marshall Miller, the Executive Director of Products, in an official post on their blog.
Miller explained in an article on "Wikimedia" that this decrease came after adjusting the method for distinguishing between human visitors and bots to ensure accurate browsing data, especially after discovering an unusual surge in visits from Brazil, which were later identified as mostly from robots.
Miller attributed this decline to the increasing reliance on artificial intelligence tools and social media for obtaining information, as search engines often provide direct answers based on Wikipedia content, reducing the need to visit the site.
He added that the younger generation is increasingly turning to platforms like "YouTube" and "TikTok" for information, posing a challenge to the future of the volunteer community who edit Wikipedia's content, and affecting the amount of donations the site relies on to continue its operations.
Wikimedia noted a significant contradiction in the digital landscape, as most major artificial intelligence models rely on Wikipedia data to train themselves, yet at the same time, they may reduce the number of visitors to their primary source of trusted information.
To address this, the foundation is working on developing clearer policies for responsible content reuse, in addition to innovating new ways to attract young people through video platforms, games, and chat, such as "YouTube, TikTok, Roblox, and Instagram".
Recently, the foundation launched the "Wikidata Embedding" project, which enables the conversion of 120 million open data points in Wikidata into a format easily usable by artificial intelligence systems, aiming to improve answer accuracy and enhance access to high-quality free information.
