Barbie, Messi, Taylor Swift — Here's list of 2023's most viewed Wikipedia pages

India and Southeast Asian audiences had a significant effect on the 2023 Wikipedia's most viewed pages list

By Web Desk

December 07, 2023

Taylor Swift, Barbie and Lionel Messi remain a significant part of 2023 Wikipedias most viewed pages. — X/@lanacion — Taylor Swift, Barbie and Lionel Messi remain a significant part of 2023 Wikipedia's most viewed pages. — X/@lanacion

The top 25 most viewed pages on Wikipedia in 2023, announced on Tuesday, demonstrate the world's interest in artificial intelligence innovation, people who died this year, the rising ability of Indian users to influence trends on the internet and more.

According to data reported by CNN by the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation, Wikipedia has had more than 84 billion page views so far in 2023.

Because of its immense popularity, the entry on OpenAI's virtual chatbot ChatGPT was the most visited page on Wikipedia this year, with over 49.4 million page views. This past February, ChatGPT set a record for the fastest-growing user population, accumulating 100 million active users in January.

Other technological companies have spent billions of dollars creating competing generative AI technology. Related technology firms manufacture semiconductor chips that will fuel future AI advances and have an impact on geopolitical connections between the world's greatest nations.

“It’s clear that people wanted to better understand the history and the context behind ChatGPT’s technology as they experimented with it,” said Anusha Alikhan, chief communications officer at the Wikimedia Foundation in an interview with CNN.

Alikhan further mentioned that ChatGPT is trained using Wikipedia data, with Wikimedia projects used to answer inquiries or suggestions from users. Wikipedia data and content, produced by human users and editors, play a part in the chatbot's answers to its users.

“Wikipedia plays an essential role in training almost every large language model,” said Alikhan.

She went on to say that because the foundation is a non-profit, they don't charge OpenAi for using its content. It is also the reason why the firm does not display adverts or track customers' personal information.

ChatGPT was joined in the top five by biographical postings about persons who died in 2023, the 2023 Cricket World Cup, the Indian Premier League, a Cricket League, and the movie "Oppenheimer."

India and Southeast Asian audiences had a significant effect on the 2023 list, with media from that area and India itself accounting for one-fifth of the total.

“Right now we have about 4,700 active English Wikipedia volunteer editors in India,” said Alikhan. “That total puts them behind only the United States and the United Kingdom. India has… a rich media environment and information technology sector.”

Given that India is on track to replace China as the world's most populous country, with a population predicted to exceed 1.43 billion by the end of the year, its effect on global media is unsurprising. The Chinese government has blocked Wikipedia from the country's internet.

According to the Internet and Mobile Association of India and market data analytics firm Kantar, the number of active Internet users in India is predicted to increase from 759 million to 900 million by 2020.

The 2023 Cricket World Cup saw India as the runner-up to eventual champion Australia, with top-order batsman Virat Kohli receiving player of the series. The series' Wikipedia entry has over 38 million page views.

A complete list of pages, sorted by rank and number of page views, is provided below.

1. ChatGPT, 49,490,406 page views

2. Deaths in 2023, 42,666,860

3. 2023 Cricket World Cup, 38,171,653

4. Indian Premier League, 32,012,810

5. Oppenheimer (film), 28,348,248

6. Cricket World Cup, 25,961,417

7. J. Robert Oppenheimer, 25,672,469

8. Jawan (film), 21,791,126

9. 2023 Indian Premier League, 20,694,974

10. Pathaan (film), 19,932,509

11. The Last of Us (TV series), 19,791,789