Opinion: Is ChatGPT Killing the Open Web?

The internet used to be messy, chaotic, and gloriously diverse. If you wanted to learn something, you had to stumble through blogs, niche experts, comment sections, and yes, the occasional Wikipedia page. That chaos was the point. It gave us variety, perspective, and depth.

But now? If you’re using ChatGPT as your main search engine, you might be watching the slow death of that open web.

The Disappearing Click

New data shows that ChatGPT referrals to websites have collapsed by more than 50% since July. That’s not a glitch—it’s a signal. OpenAI quietly changed how sources are chosen, and the result is fewer links to the broader internet and more time trapped inside ChatGPT’s walled garden.

It’s the same story we’ve seen before. Google started it with “zero-click” searches and AI Overviews. You ask a question, they give you the answer, and you never leave the platform. Now ChatGPT is doing it too.

The Winners: Reddit and Wikipedia

So who still gets through the gate? Reddit and Wikipedia. Their presence in ChatGPT answers has skyrocketed—Reddit links are up 87%, Wikipedia is up 62%. Together, they now account for a huge chunk of citations.

That means when you ask about anything—health, history, or even tech—you’re funneled into the same two destinations: a Reddit thread or a Wikipedia page.

Are those sources useful? Sure. Are they the whole internet? Absolutely not.

Graph showing declining website referrals from ChatGPT.

Why This Is Dangerous

This trend isn’t just about traffic numbers. It’s about who controls knowledge.

• If AI tools overwhelmingly cite the same sources, smaller voices disappear.

• Independent bloggers, specialists, and niche communities lose their audience.

• The diversity that made the internet valuable in the first place withers away.

And here’s the kicker: it makes us lazy consumers of knowledge. If ChatGPT summarizes a Reddit thread and calls it a day, why would anyone bother clicking deeper? The result is a thinner, flatter internet where nuance is sacrificed for convenience.

The Death of Discovery

We are moving into the “answer age” of the internet. You no longer explore—you consume what the algorithm serves. And like fast food, it’s quick, filling, and addictive, but it leaves you malnourished if it’s all you eat.

The open web was built on discovery. On clicking one strange blog post that led to another, until you ended up somewhere you didn’t expect. That serendipity—the thrill of finding a fresh perspective—is what’s at risk here.

My Take

ChatGPT is brilliant as a tool, but let’s not pretend it’s a neutral window to the web. It’s already shaping the boundaries of what knowledge looks like, who gets visibility, and what kinds of voices survive online.

If we don’t push back—by clicking through, by seeking out sources beyond what AI spoon-feeds us—we may wake up in a world where the internet feels less like a wild, open frontier and more like a curated museum with only a few exhibits left.

And that’s not progress. That’s decay.

Final thought: ChatGPT isn’t just answering your questions—it’s quietly deciding what the future of the internet looks like. The real question is: are we okay with that?