Stack Overflow users skeptical of AI yet continue to rely on it
Stack Overflow’s most active contributors have been vocal about a growing unease: the flood of AI‑generated answers is eroding the site’s reliability. Surveys on the developer forum show that while a majority admit to consulting chat‑based tools for quick snippets, they also rate those outputs as “often inaccurate” and “hard to verify.” The tension is palpable—engineers want the speed of large‑language models but refuse to sacrifice the peer‑reviewed rigor that has defined the platform for two decades. Moderators report a rise in flagged posts that blend code with AI‑hallucinated explanations, prompting a push to isolate trusted content.
In response, the community is carving out narrow, vetted pathways where expert votes replace algorithmic guesses. The goal, they say, is to keep the knowledge base clean, reliable, and free from what they call “AI slop.” This stance frames the following remark about how they intend to safeguard the site’s core value.
So for us, it's all about making sure that there are only a few places where you can go and not deal with AI slop, where a community of experts have actually voted and curated it so you can trust it for various purposes. On the input side, it made sense to do that, and we continue to do that. Fast-f
So for us, it's all about making sure that there are only a few places where you can go and not deal with AI slop, where a community of experts have actually voted and curated it so you can trust it for various purposes. On the input side, it made sense to do that, and we continue to do that. Fast-forward a little bit to now, and we have created all sorts of new entry points onto the site, even though we've had high standards to ask a question on Stack Overflow.
We just launched our AI Assist feature into general availability earlier this week, and it's been super exciting to watch how users are using that. It is effectively an AI conversational interface grounded on our 90 million questions and answers.
Stack Overflow’s community remains wary, even as AI tools slip into daily workflows. The platform’s leadership frames the rise of generative models as an “existential moment,” a phrase that underscores both opportunity and risk. Prashanth Chandrasekar stresses that the site’s value lies in “a few places where you can go and not deal with AI slop,” relying on expert voting and curation to preserve trust.
Consequently, the company continues to prioritize human‑verified answers while acknowledging that users still turn to AI for quick help. Whether this dual strategy will satisfy a skeptical user base is still unclear; the tension between convenience and credibility persists. What is evident is that Stack Overflow is not abandoning AI outright, but is attempting to contain its influence within well‑guarded corners of the network.
The long‑term impact of that approach remains to be seen, and only ongoing user behavior will reveal if the balance between curated expertise and algorithmic assistance can be maintained.
Further Reading
- AI | 2025 Stack Overflow Developer Survey - Stack Overflow
- Developers remain willing but reluctant to use AI: The 2025 Developer Survey results are here! - Stack Overflow Blog
- Stack overflow is almost dead - The Pragmatic Engineer
- Why Devs Are Quietly Leaving Stack Overflow in 2025 - Dev.to
More in LLMs & Generative AI
Two Decades of Failed Video Pixel Prediction Reveal World’s Messy Reality
Two decades of research have chased a simple promise: if language models can guess the next word,...
Transformers predict the next word by iteratively refining token representations
The headline promises a glimpse into the mechanics behind today’s most talked‑about language...
Nvidia launches Nemotron 3; early adopters include Accenture, Oracle, Zoom
Nvidia’s latest LLM push arrives under the banner “Nemotron 3,” a model family built on the...
AI models score far above clinical thresholds on 20+ psychiatric tests
In a recent experiment, three large‑language models were subjected to the same diagnostic gauntlet...
Microsoft’s MarkItDown library converts zip files, unifying supported content
Microsoft’s MarkItDown library aims to simplify handling of mixed‑format archives.
Common Questions Answered
Why are Stack Overflow's most active contributors skeptical of AI-generated answers?
They worry that the flood of AI-generated answers erodes the site's reliability, as surveys show these outputs are often inaccurate and hard to verify. The community values peer‑reviewed rigor, which they feel AI tools can compromise.
How does Stack Overflow balance the speed of large-language models with its need for peer‑reviewed rigor?
Engineers appreciate the quick snippets provided by large-language models but refuse to sacrifice the expert voting and curation that ensure trust. The platform therefore continues to prioritize human‑verified answers while allowing limited AI assistance.
What does Prashanth Chandrasekar mean by describing the rise of generative models as an "existential moment" for Stack Overflow?
He suggests that generative AI presents both a major opportunity and a significant risk to the site's core value. The term underscores the need to preserve trusted, expert‑curated content amid rapid AI integration.
What strategies does Stack Overflow employ to prevent "AI slop" from dominating the site?
The platform creates a few trusted entry points where expert‑voted and curated answers are highlighted, ensuring users can find reliable information. New entry points are added cautiously, maintaining high standards for question quality and answer verification.