News, travel, and Wikipedia see sharp declines as users favor instant AI answers
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming how people search online, offering instant answers while siphoning away valuable traffic from leading websites, according to data from SimilarWeb and other sources.
AI-driven search results from Google, ChatGPT, and Perplexity now allow users to access information at a glance, reducing the need to click through to traditional news, informational, and e-commerce websites.
In the US, annual search traffic fell sharply across several sectors in 2024-25, SimilarWeb data showed: travel and tourism websites dropped 20%, news and media 17%, e-commerce 9%, finance and food 7%, and lifestyle 5%.
Wikipedia -- long among the world's most-visited websites -- saw its daily visitors decline from 165 million in March 2022, around the time ChatGPT launched, to 128 million in March 2025, a 23% drop.
BrightEdge reported that as Google's AI Overviews -- launched about a year ago -- became more widely used, AI-driven searches surged while direct website clicks fell 30%.
A report by The Decoder found that news-related searches via ChatGPT rose 212% in 2025 compared to 2024, while traditional Google searches for news rose just 5%.
OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, has announced plans to launch its own web browser to compete with Google Chrome -- a move expected to further reshape how users interact with the internet.
By integrating browsing with AI, OpenAI aims to capture more direct user data, intensifying pressure on Google, which still derives about 75% of its revenue from advertising.
