Wikipedia saw an 8% drop in human visits in 2025, largely attributed to AI-generated answers. CEO Bernadette Meehan is now calling on AI companies to compensate for their data usage.
TL;DR
- Wikipedia's human traffic declined by 8% in 2025 due to AI-generated answers.
- CEO Bernadette Meehan urges AI companies to pay for using Wikipedia's data.
- The decline impacts Wikipedia's donation-based funding model and volunteer ecosystem.
What happened
Wikipedia experienced an 8% decrease in human visits from March to August 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, according to the Wikimedia Foundation's analysis. This drop was revealed after the Foundation updated its systems to filter out sophisticated bots that were inflating traffic statistics.
Bernadette Meehan, CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation, attributed the decline primarily to AI-generated answers from large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Gemini. These models use Wikipedia's data but often provide direct answers, reducing the need for users to visit the site.
Meehan has called on AI companies to pay for using Wikipedia's data, highlighting the importance of the encyclopedia as the backbone of AI-based knowledge systems. The Foundation's paid service, Wikimedia Enterprise, already has clients like Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Mistral AI, and Perplexity, generating $8.3 million in revenue for the fiscal year 2024-25.
Why it matters
The decline in traffic is significant because about 80% of the Wikimedia Foundation's operating budget comes from small donations prompted by banners on Wikipedia pages. Fewer visitors mean fewer potential donors, threatening the Foundation's financial stability.
The drop in visits also narrows the pool of potential volunteers who write and edit Wikipedia articles. This could impact the encyclopedia's long-term sustainability, as it relies on a steady stream of new contributors.
For AI companies, paying for data usage could set a new industry standard. If major players like OpenAI and Anthropic join Wikimedia Enterprise, it could become a common practice, similar to budgeting for servers and electricity.
Key facts
- Wikipedia lost 8% of human visits in 2025 compared to 2024, according to the Wikimedia Foundation's analysis.
- Bernadette Meehan, CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation, blamed the drop on AI-generated answers from LLMs.
- The Foundation's paid service, Wikimedia Enterprise, has clients like Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Mistral AI, and Perplexity.
- Wikimedia Enterprise generated $8.3 million in revenue for the fiscal year 2024-25, according to Search Engine Journal.
- AI Overviews from Google cut monthly search referrals to English Wikipedia by about 5%, roughly a hundred million fewer visits a month, per a University of Washington study.
- About 80% of the Wikimedia Foundation's operating budget comes from small donations prompted by banners on Wikipedia pages.
- The Wikimedia Foundation's analysis revealed that sophisticated bots were inflating traffic statistics until they were filtered out in May 2025.
Context
Wikipedia has long been a critical resource for AI models, providing a vast repository of human knowledge. However, the rise of AI-generated answers has created a paradox where the encyclopedia's data is used to answer questions directly, bypassing the need for users to visit the site.
The debate over who should pay for content is widening, with some publishers like Cloudflare and Reddit taking steps to block AI crawlers or shut down RSS feeds. Wikimedia's approach resembles these efforts, aiming to ensure that those who benefit from the data pay for its use.
The long-term sustainability of Wikipedia hinges on its ability to adapt to the changing landscape of information consumption. While the 8% drop in traffic is concerning, the Foundation's proactive steps to address the issue, such as calling for payments from AI companies, could help secure its future.