Terrifying Survey Claims ChatGPT Has Overtaken Wikipedia
A striking graph, which went viral on Reddit last week, shows the purported percentage of internet users visiting OpenAI's blockbuster AI chatbot ChatGPT overtaking Wikipedia over the past two years.
The data, compiled by UK-based market research company GWI, shows a steady decline in the proportion of users visiting Wikipedia worldwide, excluding China. In less than a year following its launch in late 2022, ChatGPT appears to have surpassed the online encyclopedia, in a striking reversal of fortunes.
If the data — which is based on survey responses and not site visits — is to be believed, it's a good reason to be concerned about the reliability of information people are seeking out online. While Wikipedia has never been known to be an infallible source free of bias or inaccuracies, generative AI has proven to be far more unreliable, thanks to widespread hallucinations and biases present in its training data. And while Wikipedia is built on prominently displayed citations, AI systems like ChatGPT often struggle to explain where their info is coming from, even cooking up fake references wholesale.
There are also serious questions of ethics and fair use. Wikipedia has an army of over 49 million human editors who ensure accuracy across 64 million articles worldwide. In contrast, it remains infamously unknown what exactly the large language models supporting ChatGPT were trained on — but it more than likely contains data pulled straight from Wikipedia, which OpenAI is now profiting off.
ChatGPT has seen a "36 percent rise in users from Q4 2023 to Q4 2024, as other online platforms remain the same or see a slight percentage increase or decrease," GWI senior data journalist Chris Beer told Futurism in an email. "It's reaching more of the internet, more quickly, than almost any other platform in history."
Beer also pointed out the "massive adoption among university students," with 49 percent using ChatGPT, "compared to 53 percent who use Amazon!"
ChatGPT, which has been named as the fastest-growing app in the history of computing, has quickly burgeoned into a global phenomenon.
"I will say that based on our research, ChatGPT is actually most popular in the Global South," Beer said. "The markets where we see the highest adoption of it include Kenya, India, the UAE, and Brazil."
China was excluded since "Chinese authorities ban" many online platforms, making the data "unrepresentative," Beer said.
However, in the absence of a more detailed breakdown of actual usage numbers, it's hard to draw any definitive conclusions.
In a statement to Futurism, a spokesperson for the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit that operates Wikipedia, said the organization hadn't noticed any "significant drops in traffic on Wikimedia websites since early 2021" in terms of "pageviews and readership traffic."
"Our analytics show that Wikipedia's pageviews are approximately 15 billion (B) per month (these have consistently been in the 15B to 18B range since Oct 2020 including occasional rises and declines in traffic)," the spokesperson said.
In other words, Wikipedia's traffic is holding steady, the organization says — but data from GWI and others suggests that ChatGPT usage has rapidly outpaced it.
Web traffic estimator Similarweb appears to corroborate GWI's data. Wikipedia is currently ranked number ten globally in terms of traffic compared to all other sites, while ChatGPT is currently ranked number six with just over 4.5 billion monthly visits.
And if Wikipedia's traffic is experiencing any type of decline, that could also have to do with the rise of AI.
"I think the long-term downward trend for Wikipedia has largely come from search engines adding more 'zero-click' answers," Beer told Futurism. "Whereas before they might return a Wikipedia page as the top result, now you're more likely to see a weather forecast, or a famous person's height, or whatever it may be, within Google itself."
"Google's AI features, along with ChatGPT, are likely compounding that pre-existing trend," he added.
The discussion highlights just how ubiquitous ChatGPT and related tech have become in just a few years. It's helping students write essays, teachers grade papers, summarize data for office workers, and sending clueless hikers astray.
But at what cost are we ditching carefully reviewed Wikipedia articles in favor of often misleading or sycophantic chatbots? Considering the latest data, the problem of hallucinations is only getting worse as AI chatbots become more advanced. Companies' efforts to nudge their chatbots' outputs in the right direction have also resulted in mayhem and confusion.
The subject of carefully reviewed information and its reliability is more pertinent than ever in a world filled with disinformation and AI slop. Just last month, the Trump administration threatened Wikipedia's tax-exempt status, accusing the Foundation of violating the law via baseless allegations about the encyclopedia spreading "propaganda."
To critics, it was pure grandstanding and an assault on the freedom of expression.
"Wikipedia is one of the last places online that shows the promise of the internet, housing more than 65 million articles written to inform, not persuade," the Wikimedia Foundation said in a statement at the time. "Our vision is a world in which every single human can freely share in the sum of all knowledge."
More on ChatGPT: Readers Annoyed When Fantasy Novel Accidentally Leaves AI Prompt in Published Version, Showing Request to Copy Another Writer's Style
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
12 minutes ago
- Yahoo
OpenAI Can Stop Pretending
OpenAI is a strange company for strange times. Valued at $300 billion—roughly the same as seven Fords or one and a half PepsiCos—the AI start-up has an era-defining product in ChatGPT and is racing to be the first to build superintelligent machines. The company is also, to the apparent frustration of its CEO Sam Altman, beholden to its nonprofit status. When OpenAI was founded in 2015, it was meant to be a research lab that would work toward the goal of AI that is 'safe' and 'benefits all of humanity.' There wasn't supposed to be any pressure—or desire, really—to make money. Later, in 2019, OpenAI created a for-profit subsidiary to better attract investors—the types of people who might otherwise turn to the less scrupulous corporations that dot Silicon Valley. But even then, that part of the organization was under the nonprofit side's control. At the time, it had released no consumer products and capped how much money its investors could make. Then came ChatGPT. OpenAI's leadership had intended for the bot to provide insight into how people would use AI without any particular hope for widespread adoption. But ChatGPT became a hit, kicking 'off a growth curve like nothing we have ever seen,' as Altman wrote in an essay this past January. The product was so alluring that the entire tech industry seemed to pivot overnight into an AI arms race. Now, two and a half years since the chatbot's release, Altman says some half a billion people use the program each week, and he is chasing that success with new features and products—for shopping, coding, health care, finance, and seemingly any other industry imaginable. OpenAI is behaving like a typical business, because its rivals are typical businesses, and massive ones at that: Google and Meta, among others. [Read: OpenAI's ambitions just became crystal clear] Now 2015 feels like a very long time ago, and the charitable origins have turned into a ball and chain for OpenAI. Last December, after facing concerns from potential investors that pouring money into the company wouldn't pay off because of the nonprofit mission and complicated governance structure, the organization announced plans to change that: OpenAI was seeking to transition to a for-profit. The company argued that this was necessary to meet the tremendous costs of building advanced AI models. A nonprofit arm would still exist, though it would separately pursue 'charitable initiatives'—and it would not have any say over the actions of the for-profit, which would convert into a public-benefit corporation, or PBC. Corporate backers appeared satisfied: In March, the Japanese firm Softbank conditioned billions of dollars in investments on OpenAI changing its structure. Resistance came as swiftly as the new funding. Elon Musk—a co-founder of OpenAI who has since created his own rival firm, xAI, and seems to take every opportunity to undermine Altman—wrote on X that OpenAI 'was funded as an open source, nonprofit, but has become a closed source, profit-maximizer.' He had already sued the company for abandoning its founding mission in favor of financial gain, and claimed that the December proposal was further proof. Many unlikely allies emerged soon after. Attorneys general in multiple states, nonprofit groups, former OpenAI employees, outside AI experts, economists, lawyers, and three Nobel laureates all have raised concerns about the pivot, even petitioning to submit briefs to Musk's lawsuit. OpenAI backtracked, announcing a new plan earlier this month that would have the nonprofit remain in charge. Steve Sharpe, a spokesperson for OpenAI, told me over email that the new proposed structure 'puts us on the best path to' build a technology 'that could become one of the most powerful and beneficial tools in human history.' (The Atlantic entered into a corporate partnership with OpenAI in 2024.) Yet OpenAI's pursuit of industry-wide dominance shows no real signs of having hit a roadblock. The company has a close relationship with the Trump administration and is leading perhaps the biggest AI infrastructure buildout in history. Just this month, OpenAI announced a partnership with the United Arab Emirates and an expansion into personal gadgets—a forthcoming 'family of devices' developed with Jony Ive, former chief design officer at Apple. For-profit or not, the future of AI still appears to be very much in Altman's hands. Why all the worry about corporate structure anyway? Governance, boardroom processes, legal arcana—these things are not what sci-fi dreams are made of. Yet those concerned with the societal dangers that generative AI, and thus OpenAI, pose feel these matters are of profound importance. The still more powerful artificial 'general' intelligence, or AGI, that OpenAI and its competitors are chasing could theoretically cause mass unemployment, worsen the spread of misinformation, and violate all sorts of privacy laws. In the highest-flung doomsday scenarios, the technology brings about civilizational collapse. Altman has expressed these concerns himself—and so OpenAI's 2019 structure, which gave the nonprofit final say over the for-profit's actions, was meant to guide the company toward building the technology responsibly instead of rushing to release new AI products, sell subscriptions, and stay ahead of competitors. 'OpenAI's nonprofit mission, together with the legal structures committing it to that mission, were a big part of my decision to join and remain at the company,' Jacob Hilton, a former OpenAI employee who contributed to ChatGPT, among other projects, told me. In April, Hilton and a number of his former colleagues, represented by the Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig, wrote a letter to the court hearing Musk's lawsuit, arguing that a large part of OpenAI's success depended on its commitment to safety and the benefit of humanity. To renege on, or at least minimize, that mission was a betrayal. The concerns extend well beyond former employees. Geoffrey Hinton, a computer scientist at the University of Toronto who last year received a Nobel Prize for his AI research, told me that OpenAI's original structure would better help 'prevent a super intelligent AI from ever wanting to take over.' Hinton is one of the Nobel laureates who has publicly opposed the tech company's for-profit shift, alongside the economists Joseph Stiglitz and Oliver Hart. The three academics, joining a number of influential lawyers, economists, and AI experts, in addition to several former OpenAI employees, including Hilton, signed an open letter in April urging the attorneys general in Delaware and California—where the company's nonprofit was incorporated and where the company is headquartered, respectively—to closely investigate the December proposal. According to its most recent tax filing, OpenAI is intended to build AGI 'that safely benefits humanity, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return,' so disempowering the nonprofit seemed, to the signatories, self-evidently contradictory. Read: 'We're definitely going to build a bunker before we release AGI' In its initial proposal to transition to a for-profit, OpenAI still would have had some accountability as a public-benefit corporation: A PBC legally has to try to make profits for shareholders alongside pursuing a designated 'public benefit' (in this case, building 'safe' and 'beneficial' AI as outlined in OpenAI's founding mission). In its December announcement, OpenAI described the restructure as 'the next step in our mission.' But Michael Dorff, another signatory to the open letter and a law professor at UCLA who studies public-benefit corporations, explained to me that PBCs aren't necessarily an effective way to bring about public good. 'They are not great enforcement tools,' he said—they can 'nudge' a company toward a given cause but do not give regulators much authority over that commitment. (Anthropic and xAI, two of OpenAI's main competitors, are also public-benefit corporations.) OpenAI's proposed conversion also raised a whole other issue—a precedent for taking resources accrued under charitable intentions and repurposing them for profitable pursuits. And so yet another coalition, composed of nonprofits and advocacy groups, wrote its own petition for OpenAI's plans to be investigated, with the aim of preventing charitable organizations from being leveraged for financial gain in the future. Regulators, it turned out, were already watching. Three days after OpenAI's December announcement of the plans to revoke nonprofit oversight, Kathy Jennings, the attorney general of Delaware, notified the court presiding over Musk's lawsuit that her office was reviewing the proposed restructure to ensure that the corporation was fulfilling its charitable interest to build AI that benefits all of humanity. California's attorney general, Rob Bonta, was reviewing the restructure, as well. This ultimately led OpenAI to change plans. 'We made the decision for the nonprofit to stay in control after hearing from civic leaders and having discussions with the offices of the Attorneys General of California and Delaware,' Altman wrote in a letter to OpenAI employees earlier this month. The for-profit, meanwhile, will still transition to a PBC. The new plan is not yet a done deal: The offices of the attorneys general told me that they are reviewing the new proposal. Microsoft, OpenAI's closest corporate partner, has not yet agreed to the new structure. One could be forgiven for wondering what all the drama is for. Amid tension over OpenAI's corporate structure, the organization's corporate development hasn't so much as flinched. In just the past few weeks, the company has announced a new CEO of applications, someone to directly oversee and expand business operations; OpenAI for Countries, an initiative focused on building AI infrastructure around the world; and Codex, a powerful AI 'agent' that does coding tasks. To OpenAI, these endeavors legitimately contribute to benefiting humanity: building more and more useful AI tools; bringing those tools and the necessary infrastructure to run them to people around the world; drastically increasing the productivity of software engineers. No matter OpenAI's ultimate aims, in a race against Google and Meta, some commercial moves are necessary to stay ahead. And enriching OpenAI's investors and improving people's lives are not necessarily mutually exclusive. The greater issue is this: There is no universal definition for 'safe' or 'beneficial' AI. A chatbot might help doctors process paperwork faster and help a student float through high school without learning a thing; an AI research assistant could help climate scientists arrive at novel insights while also consuming huge amounts of water and fossil fuels. Whatever definition OpenAI applies will be largely determined by its board. Altman, in his May letter to employees, contended that OpenAI is on the best path 'to continue to make rapid, safe progress and to put great AI in the hands of everyone.' But everyone, in this case, has to trust OpenAI's definition of safe progress. The nonprofit has not always been the most effective check on the company. In 2023, the nonprofit board—which then and now had 'control' over the for-profit subsidiary—removed Altman from his position as CEO. But the company's employees revolted, and he was reinstated shortly thereafter with the support of Microsoft. In other words, 'control' on paper does not always amount to much in reality. Sharpe, the OpenAI spokesperson, said the nonprofit will be able to appoint and remove directors to OpenAI's separate for-profit board, but declined to clarify whether its board will be able to remove executives (such as the CEO). The company is 'continuing to work through the specific governance mandate in consultation with relevant stakeholders,' he said. Sharpe also told me that OpenAI will remove the cap on shareholder returns, which he said will satisfy the conditions for SoftBank's billions of dollars in investment. A top SoftBank executive has said 'nothing has really changed' with OpenAI's restructure, despite the nonprofit retaining control. If investors are now satisfied, the underlying legal structure is irrelevant. Marc Toberoff, a lawyer representing Musk in his lawsuit against OpenAI, wrote in a statement that 'SoftBank pulled back the curtain on OpenAI's corporate theater and said the quiet part out loud. OpenAI's recent 'restructuring' proposal is nothing but window dressing.' Lessig, the lawyer who represented the former OpenAI employees, told me that 'it's outrageous that we are allowing the development of this potentially catastrophic technology with nobody at any level doing any effective oversight of it.' Two years ago, Altman, in Senate testimony, seemed to agree with that notion: He told lawmakers that 'regulatory intervention by governments will be critical to mitigate the risks' of powerful AI. But earlier this month, only a few days after writing to his employees and investors that 'as AI accelerates, our commitment to safety grows stronger,' he told the Senate something else: Too much regulation would be 'disastrous' for America's AI industry. Perhaps—but it might also be in the best interests of humanity. Article originally published at The Atlantic
Yahoo
16 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Petrobras Commissions New Hydrotreatment Unit at REPLAN
Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras PBR has launched operations at a new diesel hydrotreatment unit at its REPLAN refinery in Paulínia, São Paulo, the largest refinery in Brazil. The new unit, which began operating on May 27, is designed to produce 63,000 barrels per day (b/d) of low-sulfur S-10 diesel and up to 21,000 b/d of jet fuel. Notably, the startup was completed three months ahead of schedule and within the original budget. This expansion marks a significant milestone in Petrobras' efforts to phase out S-500 diesel, a higher-sulfur fuel, in favor of the cleaner S-10 variant. The switch enhances energy efficiency, lowers sulfur oxide emissions and supports cleaner air for consumers and surrounding communities. The new hydrotreating unit is more than just a capacity boost. It is part of Petrobras' broader 2024-2028+ strategic plan focused on upgrading refining infrastructure to meet global low-carbon standards. Alongside cleaner diesel, the unit's ability to produce sustainable jet fuel responds to both environmental pressures and growing aviation demand. An integral hydrogen recovery unit, with a capacity of 150,000 cubic meters per day, complements the system, supporting the efficiency of the hydrotreater and aligning with Petrobras' sustainability goals. Originally inaugurated in 1972, REPLAN has grown to become the heart of Brazil's fuel production with the largest processing capacity and a throughput of 434,000 b/d, accounting for nearly a quarter of the national diesel market. The site's strategic importance was recently recognized when it was named 'Refinery of the Year 2024' by the World Refining Association. With a $15.2 billion investment planned over the next five years, Petrobras aims to elevate the operational performance of its refineries, reinforcing Brazil's role in the global shift toward cleaner energy. Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. or Petrobras S.A., is the largest integrated energy firm in Brazil and one of the largest in Latin America. Currently, PBR has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Investors interested in the energy sector might look at some better-ranked stocks like Flotek Industries, Inc. FTK, Epsilon Energy Ltd. EPSN and RPC, Inc. RES. While Flotek Industries and Epsilon Energy currently sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) each, RPC carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Flotek Industries develops and delivers prescriptive chemistry-based technology, including specialty chemicals, to clients in the energy, consumer industrials and food & beverage industries. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FTK's 2025 earnings indicates 55.88% year-over-year growth. Houston, TX-based Epsilon Energy is an on-shore focused oil and natural gas company that is engaged in the acquisition, development, gathering and production of oil and gas reserves. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for EPSN's 2025 earnings indicates 200% year-over-year growth. Atlanta, GA-based RPC is an oilfield service provider in almost all of the prospective plays, like the Rocky Mountain regions, Appalachian area, Gulf of Mexico and other resources in the United States. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for RES' next quarter earnings indicates 33.33% growth. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.- Petrobras (PBR) : Free Stock Analysis Report RPC, Inc. (RES) : Free Stock Analysis Report Flotek Industries, Inc. (FTK) : Free Stock Analysis Report Epsilon Energy Ltd. (EPSN) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Sign in to access your portfolio
CNET
22 minutes ago
- CNET
McAfee Antivirus Review 2025
CNET's expert staff reviews and rates dozens of new products and services each month, building on more than a quarter century of expertise. 8.8 / 10 SCORE McAfee Antivirus $25 at Amazon Score Breakdown Performance 8 /10 Usability 9 /10 Value 8 /10 Features 10 /10 Pros Broad compatibility Wide range of tools Easy to install and use No perceptible drain on processing power Efficient quick scans Top marks for malware protection Fast, helpful customer support Good value for family plans Allows for unlimited devices Cons Slow VPN Subpar web protection Shares information with third-party vendors Steep price increase after first year McAfee Antivirus 8.8/10 CNET Score $25 at Amazon McAfee antivirus software has protected hundreds of millions of devices since its founding in 1987, becoming a household name -- but how well does it work? And does it truly deserve its long-held place on our best antivirus list? I set out to answer these questions by installing the full McAfee Plus Ultimate suite on a Windows 11 laptop and testing it -- both the antivirus and other tools like the VPN -- for usability and performance. McAfee impressed me at almost every turn, proving itself an effective tool for protecting your device from malware. The personal data cleanup tools were also fast and thorough, digging up online accounts and data breaches going back several years. My only complaint was how long the first scan took -- which, as you'll see, is a long process for a good reason. McAfee antivirus features McAfee offers a simple antivirus plan to protect up to five devices for $40 in the first year and $120 a year after that. You'll get the fully featured antivirus on this plan, with background scanning while you surf the web, quick scans for potentially vulnerable areas of your device and deep scans to search every file and folder for malware. You can also schedule scans, a feature you won't get from the built-in antivirus on Windows or MacOS. If you want more robust security while browsing the internet, you'll want a McAfee Plus security suite (prices are listed in the next section). Every McAfee Plus suite includes the core antivirus software, a web protection extension that blocks malicious links from opening and a McAfee Protection Score, which provides real-time insight into your security. You'll also get a VPN for improved online privacy. McAfee also recently released an AI-powered Scam Detector for all McAfee Plus users in the US, with the release rolling out to other countries in the coming months. The Scam Detector scans emails for signs of cybercrime, like suspicious email addresses and links, and either alerts you to the scam or blocks it entirely, depending on your settings. The Scam Detector also connects to some Android devices to scan content you view on your phone. It can even tell you if a video you're watching is a deepfake. There's also an on-demand tool for scanning messages sent on iOS devices or via encrypted messaging apps like WhatsApp. McAfee Plus provides several layers of identity protection, starting with a Social Privacy Manager that simplifies managing privacy settings on social platforms. Other identity protection features include Personal Data Cleanup (which monitors data brokers for your information), Online Account Cleanup (which identifies out-of-use accounts storing your personal information), identity monitoring and a password manager. These features can help you control where your personal data appears online. More advanced plans include identity theft protection, financial transaction monitoring and security freeze options to lock your assets if suspicious activity is found on your account. These features are great if you have significant assets or other reasons to be especially concerned about identity theft. Overall features score McAfee offers antivirus options for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. The safe browsing tools are also compatible with Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari and Microsoft Edge. This robust compatibility and the sheer number of tools available give the McAfee Plus security suite a 10/10 features ranking. McAfee pricing and plans McAfee Plus offers both individual plans -- perfect for protecting a single person -- and family plans that cover multiple people. McAfee Plus individual plans Here's a quick breakdown of the pricing and features for McAfee Plus individual plans: Plan Identity protection features Who it's best for Price McAfee Plus Premium Social Media Privacy Manager; Personal Data Cleanup (scan only; identity monitoring and alerts Casual users who want a better understanding of how their data is being used and the option to manually remove their information from untrustworthy places $50 for the first year; $150 a year after McAfee Plus Advanced Full-service Personal Data Cleanup; $1 million in identity theft coverage and restoration; bank and credit card monitoring; security freeze Busy professionals who want more assistance with personal data protection or have significant assets to protect $90 for the first year; $200 a year after McAfee Plus Ultimate Full-service Online Account Cleanup; $2 million in identity theft coverage; 3-bureau credit monitoring; $25K ransomware coverage; investment monitoring; credit lock; McAfee Assist protection setup session Busy professionals who want full-service data protection and coverage for more than $1 million of assets $200 for the first year; $280 a year after McAfee Plus family plans The McAfee Plus family plans offer similar features to the individual plans. The main differences are that the Social Privacy Manager covers up to six people, and other identity protection features cover two adults. Here's the price breakdown for family plans: McAfee Plus Premium for families: $70 for the first year; $170 a year after. $70 for the first year; $170 a year after. McAfee Plus Advanced for families: $120 for the first year; $300 a year after. $120 for the first year; $300 a year after. McAfee Plus Ultimate for families: $250 for the first year; $425 a year after. McAfee antivirus usability I tested three areas of McAfee to determine its ease of use: Account navigation: How easy it is to find the download and setup options for all tools. How easy it is to find the download and setup options for all tools. Antivirus installation and navigation: How easy it is to put the software on my device and run or schedule scans. How easy it is to put the software on my device and run or schedule scans. Additional tools: How easy it is to set up and use Personal Data Cleanup, VPN and other tools. I found these processes remarkably simple for even the least technically inclined, with only one mild hiccup at the activation phase. Account navigation I activated my account by entering some basic information and immediately received a list of software download options. Unfortunately, these weren't the download links I expected to see, just a reminder of the operating systems McAfee is compatible with. I did find options for sending a download link to a secondary device, which was mildly confusing since there wasn't an easy download option for the device I was using. Screenshot by Dianna Gunn/CNET Thankfully, McAfee sent me an activation email with a link to my account dashboard when I activated my account. I created a password, opened my dashboard and found quick links for setting up all of the McAfee tools included in my subscription. I also appreciated the QR code for quickly connecting your phone to your McAfee account. The one link I had to hunt for was billing settings, which aren't directly visible in the sidebar or the Account drop-down menu. I had to open the Account drop-down, click Manage Your Accountand go to the Subscriptions area to view my plan details. This makes it a little more difficult to change or cancel plans than I'd like, but it's not a major issue for day-to-day use. Installation and setup The McAfee installation wizard for Windows is a near-instant download, and the rest of the setup process is simple, too. You don't have to fiddle with any settings for the core antivirus. The installation unpacks the software and starts real-time scanning immediately, with an automated schedule for active scans already in place. You see options to install and set up additional tools, like the VPN, but these are easy to skip if you want to stick with just the antivirus. Screenshot by Dianna Gunn/CNET Once installed, McAfee's dashboard is intuitive to navigate, with quick links to recent scan details and setup pages for McAfee's other internet security tools. The sidebar includes links to all of McAfee's tools, allowing you to navigate between them from any area of the software. Scheduling scans is equally easy, and you have full control over the time and frequency of the scans. The automated schedule runs scans every Monday around 5:30 a.m. in your time zone, when you're likely to be away from your device and not worried about slowdowns. Screenshot by Dianna Gunn/CNET The only thing I disliked about McAfee for Windows scheduling options is that the main page for antivirus scans only includes a button for quick scans. To run a full scan, you need to go to Scan Types and click Full Scan. This isn't a huge deal, but I would prefer to see the full scan option in the first antivirus area. Setting McAfee up on my Android phone was equally fast. I used the QR code from my account area to unlock the software, waited a couple of minutes for it to download and gave it permissions to scan my text messages for potential scams. From there, the Smart Scan button in the top right corner made it easy to scan my devices for viruses at any time. My only disappointment was that I couldn't figure out how to schedule scans. Screenshot by Dianna Gunn/CNET Additional tools You can activate McAfee's Personal Data Cleanup, online account management and identity monitoring tools in a few minutes by navigating to each tool and entering your name, email address and other basic personal info. These tools scan your data and create personalized dashboards where you can view everything they've found. Screenshot by Dianna Gunn/CNET The Personal Data Cleanup tool goes a step further by automatically sending removal requests to any data brokers storing your information. The online account management and identity monitoring tools don't have automated removal options, but they do provide tips and tools for removing accounts and protecting your data. This helps you reduce both current security issues and future vulnerabilities. The password manager and Social Media Privacy Manager are browser extensions, so you'll need to connect them to your browser. This only takes a few seconds, and both downloads take you to a dashboard where you can connect them to your most important accounts. It only takes a few minutes to set up both. Similarly, you can install the Web Protection extension on your browser in seconds, and it doesn't require additional setup -- though you can control what it blocks in the extension settings. The VPN is computer-based rather than browser-based, so you'll have to turn it on from the home area of the McAfee software. You can do this with a simple toggle slider, and activation takes around 30 seconds. The location is automatically set to the fastest location (typically the server closest to you), and you can change it easily in the VPN settings. You can also enable split tunneling -- a feature that lets you use a network connection without a VPN on sites that limit VPN connections -- in the VPN settings area. Finally, the Protection Score is automatically calculated based on results from McAfee's monitoring tools. This score is prominently listed in the sidebar of your account dashboard. The protection score page shows you a visual representation of your security rating (out of 1,000) and gives you a list of actions you can take to improve it. Screenshot by Dianna Gunn/CNET Overall usability score My experience with McAfee started with a minor hiccup -- not seeing download links right away -- but everything was simple after I finished creating my account. The software itself is easy to navigate, the identity protection tools are intuitive and the browser extensions can be set up in a couple of minutes even if you're not tech-savvy. This earns McAfee a 9/10 usability ranking. McAfee antivirus performance With the basics set up, I moved on to testing McAfee's performance, focusing on three things: Background performance: How McAfee's real-time scanning (a feature automatically turned on when you install the app) affects internet usage and other daily computer tasks. How McAfee's real-time scanning (a feature automatically turned on when you install the app) affects internet usage and other daily computer tasks. Active scan performance: How fast scans are and how they affect daily tasks like browsing the internet. How fast scans are and how they affect daily tasks like browsing the internet. Additional tools performance: How quickly and effectively tools like the online account manager perform their tasks; how the web protection tools and VPN affect site speed. Most of McAfee's tools proved efficient, using minimal resources and performing their jobs effectively. However, the VPN slowed my internet speeds by a significant amount, and the Web Protection extension failed to block most of the suspicious links I encountered during my tests. Note: I ran these tests on a brand new Lenovo ThinkPad with an Intel i5 processor and around 100GB of files, mostly photos and images. Performance may vary depending on your setup and the amount of storage you're using. Background performance I spent one week using my laptop with McAfee running in the background. Most of my usage was browser-based, with five to 10 browser tabs open at a time and a video or podcast playing in the background at all times. I also used the snipping tool to collect screenshots. McAfee had no perceptible impact on these activities. Browsing the internet isn't the most resource-intensive activity you can perform on a computer, though, so I checked McAfee's resource usage with Task Manager as well. McAfee's CPU usage fluctuated between 0.1% and 0.5% during the hour I spent monitoring it, with disk usage sitting at a solid 0MB/s. That means McAfee isn't a big drain on processing power and can run effectively in the background even when you're performing resource-intensive tasks like video editing. Active scan performance I performed three deep scans using the Fast scanning setting in my week of testing, with varied results. Fast scanning allows McAfee to use more of your computer's processing power. My first deep scan took around 4 hours, far longer than I expected, but it didn't significantly interfere with my continued device usage. In conversation with a McAfee representative, I learned that this first scan is slower because it takes a more comprehensive look at every file on your computer, while later scans skim files the software previously evaluated. Screenshot by Dianna Gunn/CNET The second and third deep scans were much faster, with the second test taking just over an hour and the third taking around half an hour. Again, they didn't noticeably interfere with my continued browsing. Opening Task Manager showed that the deep scan used between 35% and 50% of my CPU's processing power, plus 7% to 10% of my hard drive's resources. These numbers fluctuated rapidly throughout the scan, with resource usage peaking toward the end. A fourth scan, this time with the Fast scanning setting disabled, took around half an hour. However, this scan used more resources than those performed with Fast scanning enabled: 50% to 60% of the CPU's processing power and 20% to 24% of my hard drive resources. These numbers dropped toward the end of the scan (down to around 45% of CPU power and 10% of disk usage), but this suggests you'll have better computer performance if you keep the Fast scanning feature on. The Quick Scan lived up to its name, wrapping up in roughly three minutes on the first scan -- even faster than the 5-to- 10-minute estimate the software provided. Like the deep scan, I didn't notice any change to my computer's performance while the scan was running. I performed two more Quick Scans, both of which wrapped up in a similar timeframe to the first. These scans used between 60% and 70% of my CPU processing power and around 10% of my hard drive resources. Overall, active scans with McAfee are fast and use a reasonable amount of processing power, allowing you to continue doing most everyday activities while the scans run. However, you should expect the first scan to take significantly longer than the rest -- possibly several hours if you've got a lot of data. You may also want to avoid running scans when performing resource-intensive tasks like gaming or video editing. Additional tools performance Next, I had Personal Data Cleanup, Online Account Cleanup and identity monitoring tools scan the web for my data. I also installed and tested the web safety extension and the VPN, using Google Chrome for both. Screenshot by Dianna Gunn/CNET The Personal Data Cleanup was done in a couple of minutes, and McAfee automatically sent a removal request to the single data broker it found my information on. I was surprised that it only found my information on one data broker site -- I've been online for a long time and haven't always been cautious with my personal info -- but I'm not certain if McAfee failed to find all of my data or if my info hasn't been leaked as often as I expected. The Online Account Cleanup took closer to 5 minutes for the initial scan and turned up 108 accounts. I looked through these accounts, returned to the dashboard and was met with a 'Scanning' message. After another half hour, the dashboard loaded, this time with a full 434 accounts found. These accounts were automatically sorted into categories based on their risk level, recent usage and connection to my financial information. I've used the email I plugged into this tool for almost 20 years, so these results felt accurate. The initial identity monitoring scan lasted around half an hour and found 47 breaches dating back to 2016. I was impressed by how thorough this was, especially considering it didn't take very long. Next, I tested the VPN. I started by running three Ookla tests without the VPN enabled. These tests showed an average download speed of 720.21 Mbps (megabits per second), upload speed of 868.65 Mbps and ping of 3 Ms (milliseconds). Running three tests with the VPN set to my country, Canada, showed that the VPN slows things down considerably, with an average download speed of 276.05 Mbps, upload speed of 248.83 Mbps and ping of 4 Ms. Screenshot by Dianna Gunn/CNET I ran additional tests in the US, UK, France, Germany, Singapore and Australia, with the following average results: US UK France Germany Singapore Australia Download (Mbps) 449.03 252.75 159.75 315.07 97 230.4 Upload (Mbps) 161.59 33 45.32 41.59 16.17 29.17 Ping (Ms) 41 178.66 196.33 191.33 492.66 403.9 While these tests aren't as extensive as the VPN testing process CNET uses for full VPN reviews, they do show that McAfee's VPN has a significant impact on speed. I definitely noticed the slowdown when browsing with the VPN on, especially when using the Australian and Singaporean locations. If you're looking for a VPN with minimal effect on internet speed, you'll want to buy one of the tools recommended on our best VPNs list. Finally, I installed the Web Protection extension on Chrome and spent some time surfing the web. There was no noticeable change in my browser speed, suggesting that this extension uses minimal resources. Satisfied with this result, I moved on to clicking through some of the suspicious links in my spam folder. Unfortunately, the extension only stopped me from opening one of the four suspicious links I clicked on, suggesting that it doesn't work very well. Personally, I've found uBlock to be more successful in blocking potentially harmful sites. The one tool I wasn't able to test for performance was the Scam Detector. I had to use a separate email account to access this software, as the account I used for the rest of my testing was connected to a Canadian account and the scam detector hasn't rolled out to Canadians yet. Using this backup email address meant there were no scams for the tool to detect in my inbox. However, a McAfee representative walked me through how the Scam Detector works, including some of the parameters it uses to identify scams. These include most parameters cybersecurity experts tell you to look for, like email addresses with long strings of numbers or confusing letters, allowing it to identify most probable scams. The deepfake identification aspect of the tool also looked promising, as it quickly identified small tells of AI usage that the untrained user might not notice on their own. Overall performance score While the initial scan took significantly longer than I expected, I respect McAfee's choice to perform a more detailed analysis on the first run. I also appreciated the speed -- and efficiency -- of later scans, especially the Quick Scans. Most of McAfee's tools had similarly effective results, with the exception of the slow VPN and less-than-spectacular Web Protection extension. Overall, McAfee earned an 8/10 for performance. McAfee antivirus security McAfee's security suites look great so far, with excellent features, an intuitive setup and minimal resource usage. But how well does it protect you? To answer this question, I researched McAfee's performance in third-party lab testing, previous data breaches, encryption protocols and privacy policies, including data anonymization protocols. The results here were mixed. McAfee has great security rankings from top third-party labs and uses internationally recognized encryption protocols, but its privacy policy has some holes. Antivirus McAfee has consistently earned a six out of six security ranking from AV-Test in every test since mid-2020. McAfee has also received numerous AV-Comparatives awards for security -- generally considered an industry gold standard -- over the past several years. Notably, McAfee's antivirus engine had a 99.6% online protection rate during AV-Comparatives testing in March 2025. This shows that McAfee's antivirus protection consistently keeps up with rapidly evolving malware to protect your devices from the latest viruses and other harmful software. However, its offline detection rate dropped significantly, to 79.3%, suggesting that McAfee may not be as effective at scanning files on USB keys or external hard drives as it is at scanning files from the internet. Security for additional tools McAfee's password manager, True Key, protects all saved passwords using the AES-256 protocol, an internationally recognized encryption method. You can further protect your passwords by setting up multifactor authentication, which requires you to provide biometric signals (like your face or fingerprint) or other information (like a code sent to your phone) along with your master password before you can open the password manager. The VPN claims to use the same encryption systems banks do, ensuring safe data transfer. However, McAfee has the encryption key for revealing your data, and the company is headquartered in the US, so McAfee has a legal obligation to reveal your data to government agencies on request. This is why we typically recommend VPNs headquartered elsewhere, like ExpressVPN, which is headquartered in the British Virgin Islands. The good news about McAfee's VPN is that it doesn't log customers' VPN usage, so what it can share with law enforcement is limited. McAfee also goes through annual third-party audits from Cure53 to evaluate its ongoing privacy protocols. These results are listed under TunnelbearVPN, the name of the infrastructure used for McAfee Secure VPN. Similarly, transparency reports are available for TunnelbearVPN, though there are no specific reports for McAfee Secure VPN. Privacy policies and data breaches McAfee has an extensive privacy policy, but there are some sections that may give you pause. Notably, McAfee says it may share information about how you interact with its services to third-party advertisers and vendors, including social media companies. While this is common for tech companies -- and websites generally -- it's concerning when you consider how much data McAfee collects and the lack of specificity about what it may share. Another potential issue, as mentioned above, is that McAfee states it will share your data with law enforcement on request. While it's unlikely that law enforcement will ask for your information unless you're suspected of committing a serious crime, it's important to know this possibility going in. McAfee says you have a right to request anonymization, which suggests that this isn't done by default. A McAfee representative explained that all data is encrypted using the internationally recognized TLS 1.3 and AES256/SHA384 protocols during transfer and stays encrypted with the AES-256 protocol at rest. While these measures can keep your data safe from hackers, this means McAfee can still access your data using its encryption key -- and share it with the broad list of vendors referenced in the privacy policy. As for data breaches, I wasn't able to find any records of McAfee's data being breached within the past five years. This suggests that McAfee keeps its data highly secure, ensuring your ongoing digital safety. However, it's worth remembering that sharing your information with third-party vendors doesn't count as a data breach. With no full list of these third-party vendors, it's impossible to say how many places McAfee may be sending information -- or exactly what information the company is sharing -- about how you use its apps. Overall security score McAfee's top-notch antivirus engine consistently earns recognition for its ability to detect malware. McAfee also uses tools like encryption to keep your data safe, but its privacy policies have exceptions for a variety of third-party vendors and law enforcement. Still, its protections -- and its lack of data breaches in the past five years -- earn McAfee a 9/10 security ranking. McAfee antivirus customer support McAfee offers three layers of customer service: a self-serve knowledge base, 24/7 live chat and 24/7 phone support. I tested all of these support avenues for ease of navigation, helpfulness and, in the case of direct communication methods, response times. Knowledge base McAfee's knowledge base is clearly laid out, with buttons leading to the most common types of inquiries and a search bar for quickly finding specific answers. You'll also see your subscription information, any recent support cases connected to your account and a button for contacting support. This clean, smooth interface is great for people at all levels of technical expertise, from the programmer to the grandparent who can just barely use the internet. Screenshot by Dianna Gunn/CNET Individual articles use a combination of jargon-free text (explaining the jargon when it absolutely must be used) and images to walk you through various processes. There are videos in some areas, which is great, but I'd love to see more of them for people who prefer learning through video. Still, the knowledge base is great for dealing with most basic issues you might encounter when using McAfee tools. Direct communication Like many tech companies, McAfee has built an AI bot into its live chat. The bot doesn't automatically redirect you to a person when you have a question too complicated for it -- I had to outright ask to speak to a person instead. However, the bot processed this request right away and connected me to a person in about 2 minutes. The agent who responded was quick and helpful, bringing the entire process to a close in around 5 minutes. McAfee also offers 24/7 support in many countries, with unique phone lines depending on your location. The phone lines are well organized, with separate departments you can contact for identity protection services, antivirus technical support and sales. I selected tech support and was speaking to a person within minutes. The agent had the answers I needed and sent me further resources, wrapping up the conversation in just 6 minutes. I wasn't able to find a support email address or email-based support ticket system. While this is fine for many people, it may be an issue if you prefer email communication. Overall customer support score McAfee provides some of the best customer experience I've encountered when working with tech companies of any kind. The knowledge base is comprehensive and uses jargon-free tutorials to help you use McAfee's various tools. The live chat and phone lines are both 24/7, and the support staff is fast and helpful. Compared to working with other tech companies, where I've often spent over 30 minutes (and sometimes up to several hours) waiting, dealing with McAfee's support is a dream. This earns McAfee a customer support ranking of 9/10. McAfee antivirus value Finally, I considered how McAfee's value compares to other popular security suites. I started by breaking down the basics of two top competitors: Basic plan cost Mid-range suite cost and devices Most expensive suite cost and devices Standout security features McAfee $30 for the first year; $90 per year after; coverage for one device $90 for the first year; $200 per year after; coverage for unlimited devices $200 for the first year; $280 per year after; coverage for unlimited devices Scam Detector; Social Privacy Manager; Online Account Cleanup; up to $2 million of identity theft insurance Bitdefender $25 for the first year; $50 per year after; coverage for one device $90 for the first year; $160 per year after; coverage for five devices $150 for the first year; $250 per year after; coverage for five devices Scam protection, ad-blocker/anti-tracker; digital footprint visualization; identity theft insurance of up to $2 million Norton $30 for the first year; $60 per year after; coverage for one device $50 for the first year; $120 per year after; coverage for five devices $100 for the first year; $200 per year after; coverage for five devices Genie Scam Protection; cloud backup; LifeLock identity theft protection; $25,000 ransomware insurance This data tells us four things about McAfee's value relative to other popular antivirus tools: McAfee's base plan , priced at $30 for the first year, starts out at roughly the same cost as similar plans from competitors. But it becomes significantly more expensive than comparable options in year two, rising to $90 per year. The mid-range plan has the same issue, starting at $90 for the first year but rising to $200 per year on renewal. , priced at $30 for the first year, starts out at roughly the same cost as similar plans from competitors. But it becomes significantly more expensive than comparable options in year two, rising to $90 per year. The mid-range plan has the same issue, starting at $90 for the first year but rising to $200 per year on renewal. The most expensive plan costs more than other high-level security suites, starting at $200 for the first year and rising to $280 per year on renewal. This is much more expensive than Norton's highest-tier plan and somewhat more expensive than the comparative Bitdefender plan. costs more than other high-level security suites, starting at $200 for the first year and rising to $280 per year on renewal. This is much more expensive than Norton's highest-tier plan and somewhat more expensive than the comparative Bitdefender plan. The features are pretty standard. The only thing you won't get elsewhere is the Social Media Privacy Manager. are pretty standard. The only thing you won't get elsewhere is the Social Media Privacy Manager. Other antivirus software limits devices, with Bitdefender capping coverage at five devices and Norton at 10 devices. Overall value score McAfee may not provide great value if you only have one computer and phone, but the unlimited device coverage makes it well worth the cost for users with numerous devices, such as families. This earns McAfee a value ranking of 8/10. McAfee: Is it right for you? Before we make any decisions about purchasing McAfee, let's review how it performed in each of our categories: Features: 10/10 10/10 Usability: 9/10 9/10 Performance: 8/10 8/10 Security: 9/10 9/10 Customer support: 9/10 9/10 Value: 8/10 Averaged together, these numbers give McAfee an overall ranking of 8.8/10. I found McAfee to be a great choice for protecting your computers and phones -- especially if you and your family have more than the five to 10 devices allowed on other security suites' highest-tier plans. However, the suite isn't perfect. The VPN majorly slows down your internet, the web safety extension doesn't always identify malicious links and the privacy policy has some concerning language. I recommend seeking out a separate VPN and safe browsing extension tools if you want comprehensive protection for your online activities.
