Data study · Developer conversation on Hacker News
35.3% of Ask HN Questions About Search Since 2023 Mention AI, Against 2.0% From 2015 to 2022
Of 224 Ask HN posts about search engines and finding information from 2023 to September 2026, 79 brought up AI. In the eight years before, 8 of 399 did.
Analysis of 623 Ask HN posts about search and finding information, January 2015 to September 2026 · Hacker News public dataset on Google BigQuery, October 2026
Key findings
- 1
From 2023 to September 2026, 35.3% of Ask HN posts about search mentioned AI (79 of 224), against 2.0% from 2015 to 2022 (8 of 399).
- 2
The jump came in 2023: 32.7% of that year's search questions mentioned AI (35 of 107), up from 4.9% in 2022 (4 of 81).
- 3
2023 also brought the most search questions of any year (107), or 7.1 per 1,000 Ask HN posts, as people asked about chatbots inside search engines.
- 4
Since 2024 the rate settled back to 4.4 to 5.0 search questions per 1,000 Ask HN posts, close to pre-2023 levels.
- 5
ChatGPT or GPT was named in 28 of the 224 posts since 2023 (12.5%) and Bing Chat or Copilot in 16 (7.1%); among search engines, Kagi was named in 33 (14.7%).
- 6
Complaints about search quality or outages were the most common question type since 2023 (34 posts, 15.2%), ahead of choosing a search engine (27, 12.1%).
Summary
When developers on Hacker News have a question, they post it as Ask HN. Questions about search used to be about which engine to switch to or why results got worse. Since 2023, about a third of them bring AI into it.
We pulled every Ask HN post since 2015 about search engines and finding information. From 2015 to 2022, 2.0% mentioned AI. From 2023 to September 2026, 35.3% did.
The questions changed shape too. People now ask whether AI search engines are worth using daily, how to turn off AI summaries, whether AI answers hallucinate, and how to find content made before AI filler spread.
What we measured
We used the public Hacker News table on Google BigQuery and kept live posts titled Ask HN. A post counted as a search question if its title was about search engines, search results or quality, or finding and checking information. We excluded job and talent searches and titles about other products from search companies. Our team read all 224 titles from 2023 to 2026; 218 (97.3%) were clearly about search or finding information.
A post counts as mentioning AI if its title or body text mentions AI, an LLM, a chatbot or a named AI assistant. To account for Ask HN's changing volume, we also report search questions per 1,000 Ask HN posts. Question types were grouped from title keywords.
A third of search questions now involve AI
Before 2023, AI barely came up when people asked about search. Then chat answers arrived inside search engines.
| Year | Search questions | Mention AI | Share mentioning AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2,015 | 24 | 0 | 0.0% |
| 2,016 | 21 | 0 | 0.0% |
| 2,017 | 39 | 0 | 0.0% |
| 2,018 | 38 | 1 | 2.6% |
| 2,019 | 47 | 1 | 2.1% |
| 2,020 | 80 | 1 | 1.2% |
| 2,021 | 69 | 1 | 1.4% |
| 2,022 | 81 | 4 | 4.9% |
| 2,023 | 107 | 35 | 32.7% |
| 2,024 | 51 | 21 | 41.2% |
| 2,025 | 40 | 14 | 35.0% |
| 2026 (Jan to Sep) | 26 | 9 | 34.6% |
Source: aisearchoptimization.net analysis of 623 Ask HN posts about search and finding information, January 2015 to September 2026 · Hacker News public dataset on Google BigQuery, October 2026
The yearly counts are small, so single years move around: 32.7% in 2023, 41.2% in 2024, 35.0% in 2025 and 34.6% in 2026. Taken together, the level since 2023 is about 17 times the 2015 to 2022 rate.
2023 was the year everyone asked about search
We also adjusted for how busy Ask HN was each year, because overall Ask HN volume fell after 2023.
Per 1,000 Ask HN posts
| Year | Per 1,000 | Search questions | All Ask HN posts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2,015 | 2.6 | 24 | 9,334 |
| 2,016 | 2.1 | 21 | 10,032 |
| 2,017 | 3 | 39 | 12,989 |
| 2,018 | 3 | 38 | 12,501 |
| 2,019 | 4 | 47 | 11,646 |
| 2,020 | 5.6 | 80 | 14,411 |
| 2,021 | 5.8 | 69 | 11,950 |
| 2,022 | 4.9 | 81 | 16,367 |
| 2,023 | 7.1 | 107 | 15,088 |
| 2,024 | 5 | 51 | 10,303 |
| 2,025 | 5 | 40 | 8,012 |
| 2026 (Jan to Sep) | 4.4 | 26 | 5,880 |
Source: aisearchoptimization.net analysis of 623 Ask HN posts about search and finding information, January 2015 to September 2026 · Hacker News public dataset on Google BigQuery, October 2026
After the 2023 peak, the rate returned to 4.4 to 5.0 per 1,000, near the 4.0 to 5.8 range of 2019 to 2022. People did not stop asking about search; the questions simply started to include AI.
What people ask about now
We grouped the 224 questions since 2023 by keywords in the title and counted which products they named.
Posts
| Topic or name | Posts | Share of 224 |
|---|---|---|
| Complaints about quality or outages | 34 | 15.2 |
| Choosing a search engine or alternative | 27 | 12.1 |
| How to find information or stay informed | 23 | 10.3 |
| Building a search engine | 6 | 2.7 |
| Names Kagi | 33 | 14.7 |
| Names ChatGPT or GPT | 28 | 12.5 |
| Names DuckDuckGo | 24 | 10.7 |
| Names Bing Chat or Copilot | 16 | 7.1 |
| Names Claude | 5 | 2.2 |
| Names Gemini | 4 | 1.8 |
| Names Perplexity | 2 | 0.9 |
Source: aisearchoptimization.net analysis of 623 Ask HN posts about search and finding information, January 2015 to September 2026 · Hacker News public dataset on Google BigQuery, October 2026
Most AI mentions in 2023 were about chatbots inside search engines. From 2024 on, questions shifted toward choosing AI search tools as a daily driver, turning off AI summaries and avoiding AI-made content in results.
What this means
Even the most technical searchers now treat AI as part of search, whether they like it or not. Your customers are asking similar questions: which tool to trust, whether answers are accurate and how to find real information. Make sure the facts about your business are easy for both search engines and AI tools to find and check. That one habit covers most of what AI search optimization asks of a small business.
Our free AI visibility audit shows how AI answers describe your business today and where they get it wrong, so you can fix the errors yourself or hand them to a GEO agency.
Limits
The sample is small: 224 posts since 2023 and as few as 26 in a year, so single-year shares are rough.
Posts were found by title keywords and checked by our team; 6 of the 224 titles from 2023 to 2026 (2.7%) were not really about search.
AI mentions in body text count even if AI is a side point. Older posts have less body text, which may understate early AI mentions slightly.
Topic groups and product counts come from keywords and overlap.
2026 covers January to September only.
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<iframe src="https://aisearchoptimization.net/embed/data-studies/ask-hn-search-questions-mention-ai" title="35% of Ask HN Search Questions Now Mention AI, Up From 2%" width="100%" height="720" style="border:0" loading="lazy"></iframe>
Cite this study
APA
Grenyo, K. (2026). 35% of Ask HN Search Questions Now Mention AI, Up From 2%. AI Search Optimization. https://aisearchoptimization.net/resources/data-studies/ask-hn-search-questions-mention-ai
Plain link
35% of Ask HN Search Questions Now Mention AI, Up From 2% - AI Search Optimization - https://aisearchoptimization.net/resources/data-studies/ask-hn-search-questions-mention-ai
Frequently asked questions
How often do Ask HN questions about search mention AI?
Since 2023, 79 of 224 (35.3%). From 2015 to 2022 it was 8 of 399 (2.0%).
Are developers asking fewer questions about search?
Not relative to overall activity. Search questions ran at 4.4 to 5.0 per 1,000 Ask HN posts in 2024 to 2026, similar to 2019 to 2022, after a 2023 peak of 7.1.
Which AI tools come up in these questions?
ChatGPT or GPT in 28 posts since 2023 (12.5%), Bing Chat or Copilot in 16, Claude in 5, Gemini in 4 and Perplexity in 2.
What are the most common search questions?
Complaints about search quality or outages (34 posts, 15.2%), followed by choosing a search engine or alternative (27, 12.1%) and how to find information or stay informed (23, 10.3%).
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