AI Hollows Public Q&A Commons

Public question‑and‑answer platforms can rapidly lose user contributions when AI assistants provide instant answers, when moderation practices close duplicates, and when ownership or business changes shift incentives. The collapse of Stack Overflow’s monthly question volume from ~200k to almost zero (2014→2026, accelerated after ChatGPT Nov 2022) shows how a formerly robust knowledge commons can be hollowed by combined technological and governance forces. — If public technical commons vanish, control over practical knowledge shifts to private models and corporations, affecting developer training, equitable access to troubleshooting, intellectual property, and the resilience of volunteer technical infrastructures.