'Quality decays exponentially following AI arrival': Research shows experts and contributors leaving online communities amidst silent 'knowledge reset'

Big letters AI in pink in front of pink and blue strands of light suggesting a digital explosion.

• Generative AI may have unintentionally pushed away some of the highest-quality 'expert' contributors to sites such as Stack Overflow as users increasingly adopted tools trained on their feedback instead
• The issue stems from said users feeling their expertise and effort are unrewarded, with AI often offering the same solutions at a faster pace
• The move is not limited to online coding communities, threatening to spill over into other areas such as classrooms, corporate workplaces, and scientific communities

Research from the University of Auckland on Stack Overflow's demise over the last few years points to an increasingly worrying trend in the software community: the best, or highest-skill, contributors are leaving in droves.