What AI did to stackoverflow in a graph
Points and comments are a snapshot, not live.
Stack Overflow question volume has declined since 2017, with AI accelerating the drop.
A SQL query on Stack Exchange Data Explorer shows monthly questions on Stack Overflow from 2008 to present. Questions peaked around 2017 and have declined since, with a notable acceleration after late 2022. The data reveals a gradual decline of about 2.2% per year over five years, then a sharper drop coinciding with ChatGPT's release.
What commenters are saying
Commenters broadly agree that Stack Overflow's decline was already underway before AI, driven by hostile moderation, a 'no conversation' culture, and the site's design as a static canonical repository for a fast-changing field. AI (especially LLMs) accelerated the decline by providing instant answers, but many argue the site was dying anyway. Two camps: those who blame AI as the final nail, and those who say the community's own toxicity and outdated policies were the root cause. Some note that Reddit and GitHub also contributed to the shift.