According to a recent blog post by Marshall Miller of the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikipedia's page views have declined by 8 percent compared to the previous year. This drop became apparent after an update to Wikipedia's bot detection system revealed that much of the unusually high traffic between May and June was generated by sophisticated bots designed to evade detection, Azernews reports.

Miller attributes this decline partly to the growing influence of generative AI and changes in how people seek information online. Search engines are increasingly using AI-powered tools to provide direct answers to users, reducing the need to click through to external websites like Wikipedia. Additionally, younger audiences are turning more to social video platforms such as TikTok and YouTube for quick information, rather than browsing the open web.

Despite these trends, Miller emphasized that the Wikimedia Foundation welcomes new ways for people to access knowledge and believes that Wikipedia's role remains crucial. Even if users don't visit the site directly, the encyclopedia's content still reaches millions through AI summaries, voice assistants, and other integrations.

Wikipedia itself experimented with generating AI-based article summaries to enhance accessibility but paused this initiative following concerns raised by its community of volunteer editors. This highlights the delicate balance Wikipedia strives to maintain between innovation and its core principles of accuracy and editorial control.

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