ChatGPT API favors Wikipedia and obscure German sites, unlike web UI
When I tried pulling news with ChatGPT, the source you get can feel like a whole different story. In a quick side-by-side test of the web UI versus the API, the browser chat mostly showed pieces from big-name outlets. The API, on the other hand, seemed to favor reference-style material and some pretty niche sites.
That difference isn’t just a curiosity, it actually steers what we end up feeding into dashboards or alert tools. In the latest run I did, about 15 percent of the API’s citations were Wikipedia links, which feels a lot like an encyclopedia dump. At the same time, the model started surfacing German-language pages that barely show up outside their own market.
One example is Deutsche-handwerks-zeitung.de - it popped up way more often in API results than in the UI. By contrast, the Reuters Digital News feed showed up far less often, at least in my sample. So, depending on which endpoint you use, the mix of sources can shift quite a bit.
By comparison, the API often points to encyclopedic sources like Wikipedia--almost 15 percent of API citations--and to little-known local outlets that have limited reach in Germany. Deutsche-handwerks-zeitung.de, for example, appears far more often in API results. Compared to the Reuters Digital News Report 2025, the web interface's source list overlaps 45.5 percent with top German media, while the API overlaps just 27.3 percent.
Public broadcasters also get more exposure on the web interface (34.6 percent of sources) than through the API (12.2 percent). Broader source requests can surface fringe and unreliable sites When users asked ChatGPT for a wider range of sources, the system listed 1.4 times as many sites through the API and 1.9 times as many through the web interface, compared to standard queries. But more variety didn't always mean better information.
According to the study, these requests led to more citations of politically biased or propaganda outlets, like news-pravda.com, which has reported ties to the Russian government. The system also sometimes linked to fake or nonexistent domains, like news-site1.com, or to lookalike sites that generate AI-written "news." Even though some sources were polarizing, the average political leaning of outlets cited by ChatGPT was close to the national average.
So, what does the study actually show? Over a five-week stretch the researchers collected more than 24,000 AI-generated answers to German-language news queries and found a pretty stark split between ChatGPT’s web UI and its API. The web interface tended to pull from mainstream outlets, while the API leaned on encyclopedic sources - Wikipedia showed up in almost 15 percent of its citations - and kept surfacing tiny local sites like Deutsche-handwerks-zeitung.de.
When you line the API up against Reuters Digital News, the mix looks skewed toward obscure publications. Why the two routes behave so differently is still a mystery; the team didn’t identify a clear mechanism. If you’re building a news aggregator on the API, you might end up amplifying those niche voices that the web UI would normally drown out.
On the flip side, a casual user sticking to the web version will probably see a more conventional feed. Bottom line: source selection isn’t the same across access points, and the endpoint you pick could subtly reshape the information you get - something we don’t fully understand yet.
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Common Questions Answered
How does the citation rate of Wikipedia differ between the ChatGPT API and the web UI?
The ChatGPT API cites Wikipedia in almost 15 percent of its references, whereas the web UI rarely points to encyclopedic sources. This contrast highlights the API's tendency to rely on reference‑style material rather than mainstream news outlets.
What percentage overlap does the ChatGPT API have with top German media compared to the web interface?
According to the Reuters Digital News Report 2025, the API’s source list overlaps only 27.3 percent with the top German media, while the web interface shows a much higher overlap of 45.5 percent. This indicates the API leans toward niche publications rather than mainstream German outlets.
Which little‑known German site appears more frequently in API results than in the web UI?
Deutsche-handwerks-zeitung.de, a local German outlet with limited reach, appears far more often in the API’s citations. Its prominence in API results underscores the programmatic endpoint’s preference for obscure, reference‑style sources.
How many AI‑generated answers differed between the ChatGPT web interface and its API in the five‑week German‑language study?
Over the five‑week period, more than 24,000 AI‑generated answers to news queries showed marked differences between the web UI and the API. This large discrepancy demonstrates how source selection can significantly affect downstream applications.