What happened
Wikipedia's website traffic has decreased significantly, with page views falling by 8% in 2025. According to Wikimedia Foundation CEO Bernadette Meehan, this decline is attributed to the increasing use of artificial intelligence tools, which are relying heavily on Wikipedia's database to train and power their models.
This shift has resulted in users obtaining information derived from the encyclopedia without visiting the website, thereby threatening its financial model. Wikimedia's operating budget, which is largely dependent on small donations from readers, is expected to be impacted.
Meehan expressed concern over the decline, stating that the decrease in readers will also lead to a decrease in conversions to editors. The website's co-founder, Larry Sanger, has previously commented on the site's shift towards leftist propaganda, stating that it began a slow slide into bias after its first five years.
Despite the decline in direct readership, Meehan insists that Wikipedia remains the backbone of online information. The company is now attempting to extract revenue from technology companies using its material, with some companies, including Amazon and Google, paying for enterprise access to Wikipedia's data.