At a Glance
- Wikipedia turns 25 today as political attacks, AI scraping and editor decline threaten its survival
- Monthly visits dropped by over 1 billion between 2022 and 2025 as users shift to AI chatbots
- New user registrations fell more than one-third between 2016 and 2025
- Why it matters: The free encyclopedia that powers most AI systems may collapse without fresh volunteers or funding
Wikipedia, the world’s largest free online encyclopedia, marks its 25th anniversary today under siege from political conservatives, artificial intelligence companies and a shrinking volunteer base. Once able to stare down the FBI in court, the nonprofit now faces a far more complex battle for relevance and survival.
Political Pressure Intensifies
The shift began when the FBI demanded Wikipedia remove the agency’s logo from its entry in 2010, claiming the reproduction was illegal and punishable by fines or imprisonment. A Wikimedia Foundation lawyer refused, correcting the FBI’s legal interpretation. The agency backed off.
That victory assumed good-faith legal debate. Today, critics like Elon Musk label the site “Wokepedia,” while Tucker Carlson devoted a 90-minute podcast to attacking its accuracy. Republican representatives James Comer and Nancy Mace accused Wikipedia of “information manipulation” in a congressional investigation. The foundation responded with a conciliatory explainer rather than a legal fight, reflecting a world where political favoritism can override legal norms.
The conservative Heritage Foundation now vows to “identify and target” volunteer editors, intensifying pressure on individuals who write and maintain articles without pay.
AI Scrapes While Traffic Crashes
AI systems trained on Wikipedia’s freely licensed content now siphon away its audience. Monthly visits plunged by more than 1 billion between 2022 and 2025 as users accept AI-generated summaries instead of reading full articles.
Despite the traffic loss, Wikipedia’s human-vetted information remains critical to AI performance. Models that train recursively on their own synthetic output suffer model collapse, making human-written sources more valuable than ever. Yet AI companies have not compensated the nonprofit for the server strain or content use.
Wikipedia leaders argue that if tech firms rely on the encyclopedia, they should help fund the system that sustains it.
Editor Exodus Accelerates
New user registrations dropped by more than one-third from 2016 to 2025, according to Wikimedia Statistics. Veteran editor Christopher Henner warns the site risks becoming a “temple” of aging volunteers producing work no one reads.
Gen Z faces economic pressure that makes unpaid editing unappealing. Hannah Clover, 23, the youngest-ever “Wikimedian of the Year,” edited from her phone while working at McDonald’s. She describes peers struggling with rent, climate anxiety and a sense of purpose, choosing monetized platforms like TikTok over volunteer labor that AI firms exploit.
To attract younger users, Wikipedia launched short-form videos in October 2024, publishing 800 clips that earned 23 million views across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. Whether views convert into editors is uncertain.
Global Censorship Grows
- UK lawmakers propose age-gating Wikipedia under the Online Safety Act
- Saudi Arabia imprisoned editors who documented human rights abuses
- China blocks every Wikipedia version through the Great Firewall
Wikimedia Foundation CEO Bernadette Meehan, a former ambassador, now leads diplomatic efforts amid these threats. Communications chief Anusha Alikhan says Meehan’s negotiation skills suit the current climate, yet even seasoned diplomats struggle against governments that jail editors or wall off information.
Funding Alone Cannot Solve Culture Gap
Wikipedia’s noncommercial, ad-free model feels increasingly quaint in an internet dominated by influencers and surveillance algorithms. Millennials embraced editing during the Great Recession as a fulfilling hobby, but years of hypercapitalism have trained Gen Z to view unpaid labor skeptically.
The foundation’s message to tech giants is straightforward: financial support for Wikipedia’s APIs is welcome, yet money cannot replace volunteers. If contributor numbers keep falling, donations will not save the project.
Founder Jimmy Wales remains defiant, predicting Wikipedia will outlast Musk’s rival “Grokipedia” by a century. History supports him; past competitors like Google Knol, Citizendium and Everipedia all failed to kill the site.
Still, Wikipedia is not too big to fail. Its fate rests on public participation. Readers can choose to edit, donate or allow the commons to wither.
Key Takeaways
- Wikipedia loses 1 billion monthly visits yet remains essential to AI accuracy
- Political attacks and global censorship threaten volunteer safety
- Without new editors the nonprofit model collapses, regardless of tech funding
