---
title: "How developers learned AI programming — Community data 2026"
url: https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/community/data/learn-ai-how
year: 2026
chapter: "community"
question: "LearnAIHow"
section: "Communities and learning"
licence: "ODbL 1.0 (https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1-0/)"
---

# How developers learned AI programming

AI codegen tools are the #1 method for learning AI itself (51%), followed by online resources (45%) and technical docs (43%). People are learning AI by doing AI.

Asked as: How did you learn to code for AI in the past year? Select all that apply. (`LearnAIHow`, multi select, optional, v2026.1)

## Options offered

1. Books / Physical media
2. Technical documentation (is generated for/by the tool or system)
3. Coding Bootcamp
4. Colleague or on-the-job training
5. Games or coding challenges
6. Online Courses or Certification (includes all media types)
7. AI CodeGen tools or AI-enabled apps
8. Blogs or podcasts
9. Videos (not associated with specific online course or certification)
10. Other online resources (e.g. standard search, forum, online community)
11. School (i.e., University, College, etc)
12. Stack Overflow or Stack Exchange
13. Other, please specify (with free-text entry)

## Results

### All Respondents

n = 20,565

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| AI CodeGen tools or AI-enabled apps | 10,407 | 50.6% |
| Other online resources (e.g. standard search, forum, online community) | 9,244 | 45.0% |
| Technical documentation (is generated for/by the tool or system) | 8,733 | 42.5% |
| Videos (not associated with specific online course or certification) | 7,781 | 37.8% |
| Colleague or on-the-job training | 6,648 | 32.3% |
| Blogs or podcasts | 6,069 | 29.5% |
| Online Courses or Certification (includes all media types) | 3,516 | 17.1% |
| Stack Overflow or Stack Exchange | 2,281 | 11.1% |
| Books / Physical media | 1,583 | 7.7% |
| Other | 1,290 | 6.3% |
| School (i.e., University, College, etc) | 1,132 | 5.5% |
| Games or coding challenges | 828 | 4.0% |
| Coding Bootcamp | 777 | 3.8% |

In context: https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/community/data.md