Wikipedia - a world-famous open-ended cyberspace site - is seeing a sharp decline in visitors. According to Marshall Miller, representative of the Wikimedia Foundation, real-world views have decreased by about 8% compared to the same period last year.
The main reason is the development of artificial intelligence and social networks. Many search engines today use AI to create direct answers. Users no longer need to click on pages like Wikipedia. In addition, many young people prefer to find information on short videos such as TikTok, YouTube Shorts or Instagram Reels rather than reading long articles.
Wikipedia has updated the new bot detection system to help eliminate virtual access. After removal, the number of actual human views has decreased significantly. This shows the changing trend in the way people search for information.
Mr. Marshall Miller said that despite declining access, Wikipedia content is still used by many other platforms. Thanks to that, knowledge from Wikipedia still spreads to users. However, if fewer people enter the page, there will be fewer people editing and contributing more articles. Funding for Wikipedia's activities may also decrease.
To respond, Wikipedia is developing a new framework to record the origin of content used by AI companies and search engines. This organization also established two specialized groups to help expand the number of readers and call for more volunteers to participate.
Miller urges people to access information sources rather than just read AI-generated summaries. "When you search for information, look up the context and access the source," he said. Remind everyone that behind AI content is the work of real humans, the people who deserve recognition and support".
Wikipedia wants to remind users that reliable knowledge still needs to be created, verified and shared by humans, not just by machines.
