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Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →After Stack Overflow and OpenAI announced an API partnership on May 6, 2024, some Stack Overflow users reportedly altered or deleted answers to protest their use in AI products. Moderators reversed some changes and suspended users, according to reporting by Tom’s Hardware. The report described one user’s account of receiving a seven-day suspension; it did not establish a verified total number of suspended users.
What Stack Overflow and OpenAI announced
In their May 6, 2024 announcement, the companies said OpenAI would use Stack Overflow’s OverflowAPI and community feedback to improve model performance. They also said ChatGPT would surface validated Stack Overflow knowledge with attribution, while Stack Overflow would use OpenAI models in developing OverflowAI.
The announcement described the partnership as involving a large technical knowledge base: Stack Overflow said its platform contained more than 59 million questions and answers. That figure describes the company’s stated content scale; it does not independently establish which posts were supplied to OpenAI. The companies did not disclose the full agreement, financial terms, duration or precise licensing mechanics in the announcement.
The companies framed the intended ChatGPT integration this way: “OpenAI will also surface validated technical knowledge from Stack Overflow directly in ChatGPT, giving users easy access to trusted, attributed, accurate, and highly technical knowledge and code backed by the millions of developers that have contributed to the Stack Overflow platform for 15 years.” That is their stated aim, not an independent measure of how the feature performs.
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Why users protested, and what was reported about suspensions
Some users objected to Stack Overflow content being used in AI products and reportedly tried to delete or change their posts after the announcement. Tom’s Hardware reported that moderators reverted some edits and suspended users. The article recounted one user’s claim that he replaced highly rated answers with a protest message and was suspended for seven days within an hour.
That is a reported individual account, not a verified tally or proof that every suspension followed the same sequence. The cited reporting establishes neither a complete suspension count nor a measured wave of bans. The headline phrase “selling answers” captures the commercial controversy, but the partnership announcement itself described API access and product collaboration; it did not publish a sale price or the complete contract.
Can Stack Overflow use a post after it is deleted?
There are two relevant pieces of platform context, but neither alone settles every question about a particular transfer or a contributor’s legal rights. Stack Overflow’s current Acceptable Use Policy prohibits automated scraping or copying of network content for generative-AI development without express written consent. Separately, a Meta Stack Exchange discussion quotes Terms of Service language describing continuing rights to use subscriber content even if it is later removed.
The discussion records community questions and interpretations; it is not the unpublished partnership agreement or a legal adjudication. These materials should not be treated as proof of precisely what data OpenAI received, how deletion applies to that transfer, or the outcome of any claim under privacy or other law.
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The contemporary question “Can / will deleted answers be given to OpenAI to use as training?” appears in the Meta Stack Exchange discussion. The available public materials cited here do not answer it with a full account of the contract’s data handling or licensing terms.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How this differs from the 2023 moderator strike
The May 2024 user protest was distinct from a Stack Exchange moderator strike in June 2023. The strike discussion said moderators were objecting to platform and policy changes, including the rollout of private moderator instructions, amid a dispute over AI-generated answers and AI detectors. A statement by CEO Prashanth Chandrasekar, reproduced there, said the company found ChatGPT detection tools had “an alarmingly high rate of false positives” and stood by requiring moderators to stop using the tools previously used. That was the company’s explanation in the 2023 policy dispute, not an explanation for the 2024 user suspensions.
The strike discussion also quoted Stack Exchange as saying 11% of moderators had stopped some activities at that time. This was a company-reported share of moderators in 2023, not a measure of work lost or of users suspended in 2024. Negotiations described plans for a user-facing warning about the ban on AI-generated content and processes and tools for moderators to communicate and vote on possible Moderator Agreement violations; those outcomes do not mean moderators were on strike during the later protest.
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What is known—and what remains undisclosed
- Announced: On May 6, 2024, the companies described OverflowAPI access and community feedback for model improvement, attributed Stack Overflow knowledge in ChatGPT, and Stack Overflow’s use of OpenAI models.
- Reported: Users changed or deleted posts in protest; moderators reversed changes and suspended users. Tom’s Hardware reported one account of a seven-day suspension.
- Not established by the cited reporting: A complete or independently verified number of suspended users.
- Not disclosed in the partnership announcement: The full agreement, price, contract duration and exact licensing mechanics.
- Platform context, not a legal ruling: Stack Overflow’s published policy restricts automated AI-development scraping without express written consent, while a community discussion quotes terms about continuing rights after removal.
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