at least for now, surviving the artificial intelligence (AI) era, according to a new study by King’s College London in the United Kingdom. The free, internet-based encyclopedia launched in 2001 has long been the subject of doom-laden predictions, suggesting the imminent death of Wikipedia due to the rise of AI tools such as ChatGPT.  Distancing itself from these negative forecasts, the study shows that people still use Wikipedia, while noting that AI scraping–the large-scale collection of data from websites–and changes in how users access information pose challenges for the platform.

Scientists saw no drop in Wikipedia activity during the 36 months. In fact, they found an increase in page views and visitor numbers across all language editions, although the growth was smaller in languages where ChatGPT was available. Despite this, the study found no evidence that ChatGPT reduced the number of edits or editors on Wikipedia.

The researchers also noted several limitations, such as the possibility that some users bypassed ChatGPT restrictions using virtual private networks and the study did not account for the popularity of ChatGPT in different countries.These findings align with previous research on AI and Wikipedia, showing steady traffic on the free encyclopedia, while highlighting some significant challenges for the platform’s future. (Euronews)