Highlights:

  • Through this collaboration with Google, Stack Overflow will deliver coding guidance and technical knowledge from its forum via the Gemini for Google Cloud chatbot.
  • Stack Overflow is providing Google access to the data via a newly introduced application programming interface, OverflowAPI.

Stack Overflow and Google LLC have recently unveiled a collaboration, bringing coding expertise from Stack Overflow to users through a chatbot interface.

Stack Overflow, formally recognized as Stack Exchange Inc., oversees a highly utilized developer forum boasting more than 100 million users as of June 2021. In that same month, the technology investment firm Prosus NV acquired the company in a deal valued at USD 1.8 billion. Prior to this acquisition, Stack Overflow had secured over USD 150 million in venture funding.

As a result of the recent collaboration with Google, Stack Overflow will provide coding guidance and other technical insights from its forum through Google’s Gemini for Google Cloud chatbot. This chatbot enables developers to access technical information, such as guidance on setting up Kubernetes clusters, using natural language prompts. A leading media house reports that Gemini for Google Cloud will incorporate citations in each response, facilitating users in verifying the accuracy of the information.

During this process, the companies are ensuring that data from Stack Overflow is accessible through the Google Cloud console. This console serves as the dashboard for administrators managing their organizations’ cloud environments. In theory, obtaining information through a centralized chatbot interface can be significantly quicker than navigating through traditional forum posts.

Stack Overflow is providing Google access to its data via a recently introduced application programming interface, OverflowAPI. This API grants artificial intelligence developers the ability to tap into the extensive database of over 58 million coding-related questions and answers from Stack Overflow’s forum. In addition to Google, Stack Overflow intends to offer OverflowAPI to other organizations through a subscription-based model.

The company asserts that the API can substantially augment the programming proficiency of large language models. During an internal evaluation, Stack Overflow fed the dataset into a 34-billion parameter iteration of Meta Platforms Inc.’s Llama 2. According to the company, this initiative resulted in an almost 20% improvement in the model’s accuracy in answering coding questions.

Thomas Kurian, Chief Executive of Google Cloud, said, “This partnership brings our enterprise AI platform together with the most in-depth and popular developer knowledge platform available today. Google Cloud and Stack Overflow will help developers more effectively use AI in the platforms they prefer, combining the vast knowledge from the Stack Overflow community and new AI capabilities.”

As part of the partnership, Stack Overflow has chosen Google Cloud as its preferred hosting platform for its forum. Moreover, the company intends to leverage the AI services within Google’s cloud to drive several upcoming features aimed at enhancing content curation and user engagement.

The envisioned functionalities mark progress in a machine learning initiative known as OverflowAI, which Stack Overflow initiated in July of the previous year. As a component of this initiative, the company has upgraded its forum’s search bar and introduced a programming assistant for Visual Studio Code, Microsoft Corp.’s widely used code editor. This assistant empowers developers to retrieve information from Stack Overflow’s forum as well as their organizations’ internal knowledge bases.