The Partnership Details
OpenAI and Stack Overflow are collaborating through OverflowAPI access to provide OpenAI users and customers with the correct and validated data foundation that AI technologies require to swiftly solve an issue, allowing engineers to focus on critical tasks.
OpenAI will additionally share validated technical knowledge from Stack Overflow directly in ChatGPT, allowing users to quickly access trustworthy, credited, correct, and highly technical expertise and code backed by millions of developers who have contributed to the Stack Overflow platform over the last 15 years.
User Protests and Concerns
However, several Stack Overflow users were concerned about this partnership since they felt it was unethical for OpenAI to profit from their content without authorization.
Following the news, some users wished to erase their responses, including those with the most votes. However, StackCommerce does not often enable the deletion of posts if the question has any answers.
Ben, Epic Games' user interface designer, stated that he attempted to change his highest-rated responses and replace them with a message criticizing the relationship with OpenAI.
Stack Overflow won't let you erase questions with acceptable answers and high upvotes because this would remove knowledge from the community. Ben posted on Mastodon.
Instead, he changed his top-rated responses to a protest message. Within an hour, the moderators had changed the questions and banned Ben's account for seven days.
Ben, however, uploaded a screenshot showing Stack Overflow suspending his account after rolling back the modified messages to the original response.
Stack Overflow’s Stance
Moderators on Stack Overflow clarified in an email that Ben shared that users are not able to remove posts because they negatively impact the community as a whole.
It is not appropriate to remove posts that could be helpful to others unless there are particular circumstances. The basic principle of Stack Exchange is that knowledge is helpful to others who might encounter similar issues in the future, even if the post's original author can no longer use it, replied Stack Exchange moderators to users on mail.
GDPR Considerations:
Article 17 of the GDPR rules grants users in the EU the “right to be forgotten,” allowing them to request the removal of personal data.
However, Article 17(3) states that websites have the right not to delete data necessary for “exercising the right of freedom of expression and information.”
Stack Overflow cited this provision when explaining why they do not allow users to remove posts
The partnership between OpenAI and Stack Overflow has sparked controversy, with users expressing concerns about data usage and freedom of expression. Stack Overflow’s decision to suspend users who altered their answers in protest highlights the challenges of balancing privacy rights and community knowledge
