---
title: "Source attribution for AI answers — Knowledge data 2026"
url: https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/knowledge/data/knowledge-source-ai
year: 2026
chapter: "knowledge"
question: "KnowledgeSourceAI"
section: "Knowledge sources and trust"
licence: "ODbL 1.0 (https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1-0/)"
---

# Source attribution for AI answers

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

Asked as: How important is source attribution when deciding whether to trust an AI-generated technical answer? (`KnowledgeSourceAI`, single select, optional, v2026.1)

## Options offered

1. Very important
2. Important
3. Somewhat important
4. Not very important
5. Least important

## Results

### All Respondents

n = 13,945

|  | 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% |

### Daily AI Users

n = 8,324

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| Very important | 3,801 | 45.7% |
| Important | 2,486 | 29.9% |
| Somewhat important | 1,344 | 16.2% |
| Not very important | 534 | 6.4% |
| Least important | 159 | 1.9% |

### Weekly AI Users

n = 1,944

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| Very important | 1,051 | 54.1% |
| Important | 539 | 27.7% |
| Somewhat important | 250 | 12.9% |
| Not very important | 87 | 4.5% |
| Least important | 17 | 0.9% |

### Monthly/Infrequent AI Users

n = 565

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| Very important | 361 | 63.9% |
| Important | 107 | 18.9% |
| Somewhat important | 63 | 11.2% |
| Not very important | 21 | 3.7% |
| Least important | 13 | 2.3% |

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