Wikimedia Foundation CEO Bernadette Meehan reported an 8% decline in Wikipedia traffic over the past year. This drop is attributed to generative AI models that provide information directly to users, bypassing the need to visit the website.
While Wikipedia serves as a primary data source for AI models, some major developers, including OpenAI and Anthropic, are not currently among the foundation's paid corporate clients. These paid partnerships currently cover 10% of the organization's operating expenses.
The foundation maintains a program for large commercial entities to access data, with companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Perplexity participating. However, other firms have declined to pay for data access despite utilizing it in high volumes.
Approximately 80% of Wikipedia's operating budget relies on small donations from site visitors. Reduced traffic threatens this funding model and limits the conversion of readers into volunteer editors, which is essential for the platform's sustainability.
Meehan emphasized that Wikipedia will remain a human-led project, with AI serving only as a tool for tasks like translation and link maintenance. She also warned of potential information inequality if access to knowledge becomes restricted behind paid AI subscriptions.
