Developer knowledge-sharing platform Stack Overflow, has introduced that it has positioned a brief ban on using ChatGPT-generated textual content for posts on the platform.

ChatGPT, which launched on Friday, is a conversational AI instrument developed by OpenAI which permits customers to enter prompts and get responses in a dialogue format. According to OpenAI, ChatGPT can reply follow-up questions, admit its errors, problem incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests. It already has 1 million registered customers because it launched 5 days in the past.

One in all ChatGPT’s talents is responding with very particular output to prompts about pc code. Within the instance beneath, the instrument is ready to appropriately clarify a bug, present an answer and likewise clarify the fastened code.

StackOverflow, which launched in 2008, gives the identical service. Customers submit code and get help from the platform’s neighborhood of builders. Nevertheless,  although ChatGPT’s output appears to be like believable and proper, it can’t be verified to be right except the consumer is aware of precisely what they’re searching for.

This previous weekend, Twitter was flooded with seemingly right outputs from the instrument. However some users have acknowledged that it gives extra gibberish responses than right ones.

It is because ChatGPT doesn’t compute code itself. As an alternative, as this article explains, it “employs a statistical mannequin about what bits of language go collectively beneath completely different contexts.” Along with further context from its Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF) coaching from the consumer generated suggestions, it is ready to produce plausible-looking and detailed code snippets. 

In line with a statement launched by StackOverflow on Monday, many customers try out ChatGPT to create solutions to coding questions, which they then submit to StackOverflow “with out the experience or willingness to confirm that the reply is right previous to posting.” 

“…as a result of the typical fee of getting right solutions from ChatGPT is simply too low, the posting of solutions created by ChatGPT is considerably dangerous to the positioning and to customers who’re asking or searching for right solutions,” mentioned Stack Overflow within the assertion.

Stack Overflow went on to state that due to the recognition of the ChatGPT instrument, lots of customers are posting these code snippets which then places lots of strain on its volunteer-based high quality curation infrastructure. To cut back the inflow of those ChatGPT responses, it took the choice to briefly ban using ChatGPT to create posts.

The platform concludes that if a consumer is believed to have used ChatGPT after this non permanent coverage is posted, sanctions can be imposed on the mentioned consumer to forestall them from persevering with to submit such content material, even when the posts are discovered to be right.

Naspers-owned Prosus acquired Stack Overflow in June 2021 for $1.8 billion, a deal each corporations described as mutually useful. In line with South African web firm Naspers’ most up-to-date monetary outcomes, the platform grew revenue by 33% within the first half of 2022, to $45 million.