Browse Comments — Raw (as collected)

Karthikkeyan Vijayan SO integrating AI is the right move. Blocking AI access to their data though — that ship may have already sailed.

Frederic Lhoest That's the question nobody wants to answer. AI trained on human knowledge. Humans stop generating it publicly. Then what?

Only use AI as a tutor and companion not to do all tasks though

We will all regret that.

It depends on how we use these Al tools. If we rely on them completely without understanding why a bug occurred in the first place, we'll lose our problem-solving skills day by day. On the other hand, when used correctly, these tools can help us grow and release higher-quality products.

I agree with only one point. Data is a mutant after AI😂👾

AI isn't replacing the need to think. It's replacing the need to search. Stack Overflow taught us to find answers. AI is teaching us to build systems. The developers losing out aren't the ones using AI — they're the ones still treating it like a search bar instead of a workflow. I wrote a free chapter on exactly this shift — how to stop using AI as a tool and start building with it as a system. It's on my profile if you want to check it out. Genuine question back: do you think the problem is AI, or how we're using it? https://payhip.com/b/Avezg

While I have my concerns about AI, I rarely posted on SO because the user base is very skilled at alienating the user base.

Perhaps, a trend reversel will happen if AI slop continues. Zig CEO says they don't want PRs based on AI slop and many PRs getting rejected as reviews require lots of effort for AI generated including the replies for the question asked.

Won't we need to continue using it so it can train the LLMs?

Many of us in data science now ask Ai for concise answers. Old inquiries to Stack Overflow required too many tries without truly narrowly answering our questions.

I don't see it that way. I think that many AI engines are using data they have gathered from Stack!So more correct bottom part of picture, would be a turtle with his own copy of Rat master. :)

Adam Adamkiewicz Yes and no. For many things still I check and read the details there. The contribution still should be remained there because the explanations are beyond this luxurious high literature of AI LLMs. For who they are looking for details and critical aspects, that will be still the bible!

Charles Doan Most LLMs are trained in large training runs, trained in batches not live internet. But yes, developers sharing knowledge still matters. If they stop contributing, the AI quality can become poor on new problems.

Stack Overflow's friction wasn't a bug — it was a feature. Getting downvoted forced you to understand your problem before you could even ask about it. That struggle built something. What we've done is remove the struggle and call it progress. LLMs in agent wrappers are handing people a confident-sounding answer they can't interrogate, and then wrapping it around prod databases and IAM roles they don't understand. The SO gatekeepers were obnoxious — but at least ignorance had a natural ceiling. Now it doesn't. And we shipped all of this to the world largely unmoderated, at scale, before we figured out what we were actually handing people. That's not democratizing knowledge. That's democratizing the ability to cause damage you don't understand.

Mehran Shovkati that's a fair point. AI gives you the answer. SO forced you to understand the context around it. Both have a place — but they're not doing the same job.

Valentin P. 😄 mutant is the right word. Data didn't just grow — it shapeshifted. And most pipelines weren't built for what it became.

Zachary H. honestly, SO's toxicity problem was a slow self-inflicted wound. AI didn't kill the community — the community made it easy to leave

Damian Szczerba 😄 the turtle training on Splinter's own moves — that's actually a sharp way to frame it. AI grew up on SO's knowledge and now SO is the one struggling to stay relevant.

Tyrone Muhammad, BSDA exactly. SO was built for a time when finding the right answer required patience. AI removed that friction. The switch wasn't a betrayal — it was just inevitable.