Source attribution for AI answers — Knowledge data 2026

79% consider source attribution important or very important for trusting AI answers.

Social (.png) Vector (.svg)

Question

How important is source attribution when deciding whether to trust an AI-generated technical answer?

single select
Optional
v2026.1

Data

	Respondents	Percent
Very important	7,269	52.1%
Important	3,701	26.5%
Somewhat important	1,956	14.0%
Not very important	753	5.4%
Least important	266	1.9%

Use this data

Citation

Response data is released under the ODbL 1.0, which asks that you attribute it.

Stack Exchange Inc. (2026). “Source attribution for AI answers”. Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026. Licensed under ODbL 1.0. https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/knowledge/data/knowledge-source-ai

JSON

Structured for code, with the question, the year and the source url alongside the numbers.

{
  "question": "Source attribution for AI answers",
  "dataId": "KnowledgeSourceAI",
  "asked": "How important is source attribution when deciding whether to trust an AI-generated technical answer?",
  "year": "2026",
  "url": "https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/knowledge/data/knowledge-source-ai",
  "demographic": {
    "id": "all-respondents",
    "type": "all",
    "name": "All Respondents",
    "n": 13945,
    "share": null
  },
  "series": null,
  "columns": [
    {
      "key": "response",
      "header": "Source attribution for AI answers",
      "unit": "",
      "numeric": false
    },
    {
      "key": "count",
      "header": "Respondents",
      "unit": "",
      "numeric": true
    },
    {
      "key": "pct",
      "header": "Percent",
      "unit": "%",
      "numeric": true
    }
  ],
  "licence": {
    "name": "ODbL 1.0",
    "url": "https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1-0/",
    "holder": "Stack Exchange Inc."
  },
  "source": "Stack Overflow Developer Survey",
  "data": [
    {
      "response": "Very important",
      "count": 7269,
      "pct": 0.521
    },
    {
      "response": "Important",
      "count": 3701,
      "pct": 0.265
    },
    {
      "response": "Somewhat important",
      "count": 1956,
      "pct": 0.14
    },
    {
      "response": "Not very important",
      "count": 753,
      "pct": 0.054
    },
    {
      "response": "Least important",
      "count": 266,
      "pct": 0.019
    }
  ]
}

Markdown

A formatted table, ready to paste into a document, an issue or a prompt.

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| Very important | 7,269 | 52.1% |
| Important | 3,701 | 26.5% |
| Somewhat important | 1,956 | 14.0% |
| Not very important | 753 | 5.4% |
| Least important | 266 | 1.9% |

Spreadsheet

.csv is a plain text format which most spreadsheet software can open.