I myself can’t remember the last time I thought to ask or answer a question on Stack Overflow. Now I just ask GitHub Copilot or ChatGPT. I find that those two tools answer, well, every question I have.
And in what seems to be an “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” move, Stack Overflow recently created an API, called OverflowAI, that allows the AI coding tools to access its knowledge base. The company is working with OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft to allow those AI providers to better leverage the data of the site. Of course, this will not sit well with many of the developers who have contributed their knowledge over the years.
All of this creates an interesting—and well-known—conundrum. Stack Overflow provides much of the knowledge that is embedded in AI coding tools, but the more developers rely on AI coding tools the less likely they will participate in Stack Overflow, the site that produces that knowledge.
We all know that AI is disrupting all kinds of industries in ways we are only beginning to understand. For better or worse, Stack Overflow seems to be a leading example of this disruption. I don’t know what the future holds for Stack Overflow, but whatever happens, its glory days are probably behind it.
