{"id":8066,"date":"2026-01-14T21:07:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T21:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/ai-has-basically-killed-stack-overflow\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T21:07:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T21:07:00","slug":"ai-has-basically-killed-stack-overflow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/ai-has-basically-killed-stack-overflow\/","title":{"rendered":"AI Has Basically Killed Stack Overflow"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Since 2008, Stack Overflow has been an immensely helpful resource for developers, allowing them to crowdsource answers to their coding questions \u2014 and resulting in a vast online repository of coding knowledge.<\/p>\n

But as Dev Class<\/em> reports<\/a>, the advent of generative AI appears to have caused an extinction-level event for the platform, with the number of monthly questions plummeting significantly since around the time ChatGPT burst onto the scene in late 2022.<\/p>\n

The data, as accessed through Stack Overflow\u2019s own Data Explorer, tells a dramatic story. The number of questions per month fell from over 21,000 in January 2025 to a measly 3,607 by December. Back in the start of 2023, it was fielding 100,000 per month.<\/p>\n

The issue? Large language model-based tools like OpenAI\u2019s blockbuster chatbot have allowed programmers to get coding help with simple text prompts, foregoing the need to take their questions to Stack Overflow.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a meta twist: Stack Overflow signed a partnership with OpenAI<\/a> in 2024 in an effort to \u201cstrengthen the world\u2019s most popular large language models\u201d \u2014 either leaning into the inevitable or hastening its own demise, depending on your perspective.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a confounding situation. The company introduced an \u201cAI Assist\u201d feature<\/a>, described as a \u201cnew way for users to access our 17 years of expert knowledge,\u201d last month. Yet, as Dev Class<\/em> points out, using generative AI to answer questions on the platform is still banned<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Disillusioned users argued that the site\u2019s often hostile and \u201ctoxic<\/a>\u201d community has contributed to its decline as well, criticizing the company for allowing moderators to mishandle duplicate queries, for instance. Many users have grown frustrated with being shut down for asking already-answered questions.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, one could point to 2022 and say \u2018look, it\u2019s because of AI,\u2019 and yes, AI certainly accelerated the decline, but this is the result of consistently punishing users for trying to participate in your community,\u201d one Reddit user argued<\/a>. \u201cPeople were just happy to finally have a tool that didn\u2019t tell them their questions were stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others pointed out that the most important questions simply may have already been asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI very rarely find that I need to ask new questions on Stack Overflow,\u201d another user wrote<\/a>. \u201cA problem is either trivial enough that I can find the answer myself, common enough that someone\u2019s already asked before, or so difficult and so niche that asking other people for help is fruitless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Programmers are concerned about what comes next, especially considering the well-documented shortcomings of AI. Hallucinations are still a major issue<\/a>, forcing developers to spend significant amounts of time fixing errors<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The more practical question: when new technologies are deployed, and Stack Overflow is a husk, where will the AIs get their coding info from?<\/p>\n

Stack Overflow \u201cwas by far the leading source of high quality answers to technical questions,\u201d one user argued on Hacker News<\/a>. \u201cWhat do LLMs train off of now?\u201d<\/p>\n

More on AI coding:<\/strong> AI Code Is a Bug-Filled Mess<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The post AI Has Basically Killed Stack Overflow<\/a> appeared first on Futurism<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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