Data study · Developer conversation on Hacker News
Comments Citing What an AI Said Rose From 22.5 to 38.7 per 100,000 Hacker News Comments Between 2023 and 2026
'ChatGPT says', 'according to Claude' and 'I asked Gemini' now appear in about 1 of every 2,600 Hacker News comments. ChatGPT was named in 87.9% of them in 2023 and 27.2% in 2026, when Claude led at 38.7%.
Analysis of 3,789 Hacker News comments citing an AI answer, January 2023 to September 2026 · Hacker News public dataset on Google BigQuery, October 2026
Key findings
- 1
Comments citing what an AI said rose from 22.5 per 100,000 Hacker News comments in 2023 (928) to 38.7 per 100,000 in January to September 2026 (1,127), a 72% increase.
- 2
The habit dipped in 2024 to 16.2 per 100,000 (527) before rising to 35.5 in 2025 (1,207).
- 3
ChatGPT was named in 87.9% of these comments in 2023 (816 of 928) but 27.2% in 2026 (307 of 1,127); Claude was named in 38.7% in 2026 (436) and Gemini in 19.6% (221).
- 4
In a random sample of 60, 32 (53.3%) were the commenter citing an AI answer as information and 11 (18.3%) described other people using AI answers to settle a point.
- 5
Coding was the most common topic, mentioned in 22.2% of 2026 AI-citing comments (250); numbers, prices or calculations appeared in 10.7% (121).
- 6
Words about errors (wrong, hallucinated, made up, false) appeared in 23.2% of 2026 AI-citing comments (262), down from 31.4% in 2023 (291).
Summary
Picture a team meeting where someone ends an argument with 'well, ChatGPT says it should only take two hours.' Developers on Hacker News see that move in their own threads, and more and more of them use it too.
We counted comments that report what an AI tool said: 'ChatGPT says', 'according to Claude', 'I asked Gemini and it told me'. In 2023 they ran at 22.5 per 100,000 comments. In 2026 the rate is 38.7, about 1 in every 2,600 comments.
The tool being quoted has changed. ChatGPT was named in nearly 9 of 10 such comments in 2023. In 2026 Claude is named most often, and Gemini is close behind ChatGPT. AI answers are turning into a source people cite, the way they once linked a search result or a wiki page.
What we measured
We used the public Hacker News table on Google BigQuery and matched live comments where an AI tool or 'the LLM' is followed by says, said, told me, answered, suggested, claims or similar; phrases like according to ChatGPT; an AI's answer or response; and I asked an AI tool what, how, why, whether or about something. We excluded comments about asking an AI to write, build or fix something, and mentions of coding agents. Rates divide by all live comments in each year.
Our team read a random sample of 60 matched comments from 2023 to 2026. Topic and accuracy flags are keyword-based; tool names count if they appear anywhere in the comment. The dataset has no text for dead (moderated) comments, so we could not measure how often AI-quoting comments are removed.
Citing AI answers is on the rise again
The first wave came with ChatGPT in 2023. After a dip in 2024, the habit came back stronger, with quotes spread across several assistants.
Per 100,000 comments
| Year | Per 100,000 | AI-citing comments | All live comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2,021 | 1 | 36 | 3,691,995 |
| 2,022 | 4.1 | 164 | 3,983,506 |
| 2,023 | 22.5 | 928 | 4,128,014 |
| 2,024 | 16.2 | 527 | 3,254,657 |
| 2,025 | 35.5 | 1,207 | 3,399,696 |
| 2026 (Jan to Sep) | 38.7 | 1,127 | 2,911,855 |
Source: aisearchoptimization.net analysis of 3,789 Hacker News comments citing an AI answer, January 2023 to September 2026 · Hacker News public dataset on Google BigQuery, October 2026
The 2021 and 2022 matches are mostly about early code-completion tools and GPT-3, so the series is best read from 2023. Between 2023 and 2026 the rate rose 72%, despite the dip to 16.2 in 2024.
Claude overtook ChatGPT as the most-quoted assistant
Which assistant gets quoted hints at where technical users spend their time. This is a count of names in comments, not a measure of quality.
| Year | Comments | ChatGPT | Claude | Gemini | Grok | Copilot | Perplexity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,023 | 928 | 87.9% | 2.0% | 7.2% | 0.0% | 2.6% | 0.1% |
| 2,024 | 527 | 67.9% | 11.2% | 11.6% | 0.9% | 3.6% | 2.3% |
| 2,025 | 1,207 | 50.3% | 15.2% | 13.6% | 5.8% | 4.0% | 2.9% |
| 2026 (Jan to Sep) | 1,127 | 27.2% | 38.7% | 19.6% | 4.4% | 1.9% | 0.7% |
Source: aisearchoptimization.net analysis of 3,789 Hacker News comments citing an AI answer, January 2023 to September 2026 · Hacker News public dataset on Google BigQuery, October 2026
A comment can name more than one assistant. Claude went from 2.0% of AI-citing comments in 2023 to 38.7% in 2026; Gemini from 7.2% to 19.6%.
Most are people using AI as a source, and many flag errors
Our team read 60 random matches to see what they were doing.
Comments
| Type | Comments | Share % |
|---|---|---|
| Commenter cites an AI answer as information | 32 | 53.3 |
| Describes others citing AI to settle a point | 11 | 18.3 |
| Other or meta discussion | 17 | 28.3 |
Source: aisearchoptimization.net analysis of 3,789 Hacker News comments citing an AI answer, January 2023 to September 2026 · Hacker News public dataset on Google BigQuery, October 2026
Typical citations were quick facts, estimates and explanations: a unit conversion, the likely meaning of a word, a debugging hint. People citing others often complained that colleagues or managers used AI answers to win arguments. Across all 2026 matches, 23.2% also used words about errors such as wrong or hallucinated, down from 31.4% in 2023.
What this means
AI answers are becoming something people quote as a source, at work and in public. If someone asks an assistant about your prices, services or hours and quotes the answer to a colleague, that answer now carries weight whether it is right or not. Your job is to make sure the facts AI tools find about your business are current and consistent.
Before you hire a GEO agency, use our free AI visibility audit to check what the main assistants say about your business and where their answers go wrong.
Limits
Phrase matching finds specific wordings; many citations of AI answers use other words and were missed.
In a sample of 60, 28.3% of matches were not someone citing an AI answer, so counts include some noise.
Tool names and topics are keyword flags anywhere in the comment and can overlap.
Dead and deleted comments have no text in the dataset, so we could not test whether AI-quoting comments are moderated more often.
2026 covers January to September only.
Embed this research
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Cite this study
APA
Grenyo, K. (2026). AI-Quoting Comments on Hacker News Rose 72% Since 2023. AI Search Optimization. https://aisearchoptimization.net/resources/data-studies/chatgpt-says-comments-hacker-news
Plain link
AI-Quoting Comments on Hacker News Rose 72% Since 2023 - AI Search Optimization - https://aisearchoptimization.net/resources/data-studies/chatgpt-says-comments-hacker-news
Frequently asked questions
How often do Hacker News commenters quote AI answers?
In January to September 2026, 1,127 comments did, 38.7 per 100,000 comments or about 1 in 2,600. In 2023 the rate was 22.5 per 100,000.
Which AI tool do developers quote most?
In 2026, Claude was named in 38.7% of AI-citing comments, ChatGPT in 27.2% and Gemini in 19.6%. In 2023, ChatGPT was named in 87.9%.
What do people cite AI answers about?
Coding came up in 22.2% of 2026 AI-citing comments, and numbers, prices or calculations in 10.7%. Law, health and history each appeared in 3% to 4%.
Are AI-quoting comments removed by moderators more often?
We could not measure it. The public dataset keeps no text for dead comments, so removed AI-quoting comments cannot be identified.
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