Stack Overflow’s forum is dead thanks to AI, but the company’s still kicking... thanks to AI - Sherwood NewsThe Stack Overflow logo seen displayed on a smartphone screen (Thomas Fuller/Getty Images)isn’t it aironic?Stack Overflow’s forum is dead thanks to AI, but the company’s still kicking... thanks to AIThe platform is raking in millions of dollars in revenue, with AI an ironic new source of revenue.Claire Yubin Oh1/7/26 7:22AMWhen Elon Musk described Stack Overflow’s plight as “death by LLM” in July 2023, he wasn’t exaggerating.Having been the go-to resource for developers looking for technical help for a long time, Stack Overflow neared the peak of its powers during the pandemic, with coders seeking the evergreen information on the company’s popular Q&A forum. But amid a wave of powerful code-writing AI assistants like ChatGPT, Cursor, Claude, Google’s Gemini, and Microsoft’s Copilot, traffic to the site has plummeted.Last month, Stack Overflow recorded just 6,866 questions — roughly equal to the typical volume when the site first launched back in 2008. Sherwood NewsBut while Stack Overflow the Q&A forum looks dead, Stack Overflow the company looks to be limping along.Unlike Chegg and other knowledge hubs that have fallen victim to generative AI, Stack Overflow has found a way to monetize its enormous back catalog of content. Indeed, even with engagement falling off a cliff since ChatGPT’s 2022 debut, the company’s annual revenue has roughly doubled to $115 million. Losses have slimmed, too, from $84 million in FY2023 to $22 million as of the last fiscal year, as desperate cost-cutting efforts, including mass layoffs, helped boost the bottom line.Once dependent on ads across its buzzy forum, Stack Overflow now primarily makes money from enterprise solutions like “Stack Internal,” which provides a generative-AI add-on powered by the millions of questions and answers on the site through the years. Stack Internal is now used by 25,000 companies around the world. It also licenses its data to AI companies, in a Reddit-like model — a platform that made more than $200 million from licensing user-generated content in 2024. Put simply, Stack Overflow’s new niche is the trust built by its old community and their expertise. In the words of CEO Prashanth Chandrasekar last December: “...when we saw the questions decline in early 2023, what we realized is that pretty much all those declines were with very simple questions. The complex questions still get asked on Stack because there’s no other place. If the LLMs are only as good as the data, which is typically human curated, we’re one of the best places for that, if not the best for technology.”Large language models want data about coding problems and how to solve them. Stack Overflow has a big digital warehouse full of that, but it’s increasingly aging, as queries move into private chat windows with LLM models... which need huge chunks of data to work. Stack Overflow has become a fascinating canary in tech’s new, circular coal mine.More TechSee all TechJon Keegan6hAmid fears of AI killing tech jobs, companies race to fill cybersecurity rolesOne of the biggest fears of the AI boom is that the technology will destroy jobs, starting with entry-level programmers and eventually coming for all manner of white-collar work. This week, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the “jobs apocalypse” isn’t turning out as bad as he’d feared, noting, “I’m delighted to ⁠be wrong about this.” One tech job that had appeared at risk of AI replacement was cybersecurity engineer. But The New York Times reports that the role is now going through a “hiring frenzy,” and tech recruiters can’t keep up with demand for them. One of the driving forces behind the surge in cybersecurity roles is the emergence of Anthropic’s Mythos AI model — which is being held back by the company due to its advanced cyber capabilities until companies can shore up defenses. The demise of software engineering roles in general may have been overblown as well. According to the report, engineers are still needed to manage AI agents, which are increasingly writing the bulk of the code at Big Tech companies.One Job That Is Growing in the A.I. Era? Cybersecurity Experts.One tech job that had appeared at risk of AI replacement was cybersecurity engineer. But The New York Times reports that the role is now going through a “hiring frenzy,” and tech recruiters can’t keep up with demand for them. One of the driving forces behind the surge in cybersecurity roles is the emergence of Anthropic’s Mythos AI model — which is being held back by the company due to its advanced cyber capabilities until companies can shore up defenses. The demise of software engineering roles in general may have been overblown as well. According to the report, engineers are still needed to manage AI agents, which are increasingly writing the bulk of the code at Big Tech companies.Figure’s robots just sorted packages for 200 hours straightWhat started as a 10-hour human-versus-robot challenge turned into a continuous marathon shift spanning nine days of continuous work. Jon Keegan5/22/26Rani Molla5/22/26Report: Uber considers full Delivery Hero takeover to take on DoorDash outside the USUber appears to be considering upping its competition with DoorDash outside the US, exploring a potential full takeover of Frankfurt-listed Delivery Hero, Bloomberg reports. Earlier this week the US-based ride-hailing service disclosed a 19.5% stake in the food delivery company, but now that could go higher.The $11.8 billion German company could be particularly vulnerable to a takeover right now, with its CEO having recently stepped down following pressure from activist investors to sell off assets. A full acquisition would give Uber a massive foothold in over 60 countries to combat DoorDash’s European-focused Wolt unit.Uber has been involved in a lot of deal-making of late, mostly in the autonomous vehicle space, where it now has more than 30 partnerships globally. Uber extended its losses on the news and is currently down around 1.7%.Uber Said to Study Full Takeover of European Rival Delivery HeroThe $11.8 billion German company could be particularly vulnerable to a takeover right now, with its CEO having recently stepped down following pressure from activist investors to sell off assets. A full acquisition would give Uber a massive foothold in over 60 countries to combat DoorDash’s European-focused Wolt unit.Uber has been involved in a lot of deal-making of late, mostly in the autonomous vehicle space, where it now has more than 30 partnerships globally. Uber extended its losses on the news and is currently down around 1.7%.Rani Molla5/22/26Meta released a Reddit dupe. Reddit investors don’t like it.Fresh on the heels of releasing a Snapchat dupe, which sent Snap down earlier this month, Meta seems to be meddling with Reddit, quietly releasing a Reddit-like Facebook app called Forum yesterday. After news of the “dedicated space built for deeper discussions, real answers and the communities you care about,” Reddit’s stock is down 4.5% today.Last month, Reddit’s earnings report handily beat analysts’ expectations, but it continues to struggle with the perception that bigger tech companies — including Meta — investing heavily in AI will eat its lunch. The stock is down nearly 40% year-to-date.Jon Keegan5/21/26Report: OpenAI’s Q1 revenue was $5.7 billion, beating AnthropicThe neck-and-neck race between OpenAI and Anthropic as the AI companies barrel toward their expected IPOs this year is shaking out some internal numbers for would-be investors to ponder. The Information is reporting that OpenAI’s first-quarter revenue was ~$5.7 billion, about $1 billion ahead of Anthropic’s revenue for the same period. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Anthropic is on course to more than double its first-quarter revenue of $4.8 billion to $10.9 billion in the second quarter. It is not known what OpenAI is projecting for Q2. Recently, The New York Times reported that Anthropic’s current fundraising round seeking to raise between $30 billion and $50 billion comes with a valuation of up to $950 billion, putting it ahead of OpenAI’s latest reported valuation of $850 billion. OpenAI Held $1 Billion Revenue Lead Over Anthropic in First QuarterThe Wall Street Journal recently reported that Anthropic is on course to more than double its first-quarter revenue of $4.8 billion to $10.9 billion in the second quarter. It is not known what OpenAI is projecting for Q2. Recently, The New York Times reported that Anthropic’s current fundraising round seeking to raise between $30 billion and $50 billion comes with a valuation of up to $950 billion, putting it ahead of OpenAI’s latest reported valuation of $850 billion. 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Stack Overflow, once a central resource for developers, is experiencing a significant decline in user traffic following the emergence of powerful large language models, prompting discussions about its future. While the Q&A forum has seen a substantial drop, the company is attempting to pivot by monetizing its extensive content rather than relying solely on advertising from the forum. Stack Overflow has successfully leveraged its massive repository of curated questions and answers to develop enterprise solutions, such as Stack Internal, a generative-AI add-on that is utilized by thousands of companies globally. Furthermore, the platform has begun licensing its user-generated data to AI companies, operating in a model similar to Reddit, which has demonstrated significant revenue generation from licensing content. The company, as noted by CEO Prashanth Chandrasekar, believes that Stack Overflow remains a crucial resource because it houses complex questions that LLMs may not adequately cover, emphasizing that the data is highly valuable for training models.

The broader technological landscape is also being reshaped by the impact of artificial intelligence on employment. While there are widespread fears regarding the destruction of jobs, experts suggest that the displacement may be less severe than anticipated. Instead, roles are shifting; for instance, the demand for cybersecurity experts is surging, driven partly by the emergence of advanced models like Anthropic’s Mythos AI, which necessitates stronger security measures across the tech industry. This increase in demand stems from the fact that engineers are still essential for managing AI agents that are increasingly responsible for writing code at major technology firms.

In the highly competitive arena of AI development, the race between major players is evident in their financial performance and valuations. Reports indicate that OpenAI has demonstrated a substantial lead in revenue, with their first-quarter revenue reportedly exceeding Anthropic's, though Anthropic is projected to significantly increase its revenue in the subsequent quarter. Furthermore, the fundraising rounds for these entities reflect the intense valuation competition, with Anthropic's current round seeking a valuation that surpasses OpenAI's reported valuation.

Beyond the AI and platform dynamics, the broader tech sector is engaged in significant corporate maneuvering. For example, ride-hailing service Uber is exploring a potential full takeover of the German food delivery company Delivery Hero to gain a substantial foothold in the European market and compete against rivals like DoorDash. This move is part of a wider trend where large technology entities engage in major acquisitions and strategic deal-making, particularly within the autonomous vehicle space, reflecting ongoing competition and the pursuit of market dominance. Moreover, the social media landscape is also seeing shifts, as Meta has quietly developed a Reddit-like application, indicating continued strategic moves within the ecosystem.