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Stack Overflow and Google Cloud announce partnership that feeds Stack Overflow content to Gemini

Gemini for Google Cloud will provide suggestions, code and answers from Stack Overflow through the new OverflowAPI. Stack Overflow also chose Google Cloud to host its public platform.

NEW YORK, February 29, 2024 Stack Overflow and Google Cloud announced a strategic partnership under which Gemini for Google Cloud will use Stack Overflow content through a new OverflowAPI. Financial terms were not disclosed.1

Terms of the deal

Gemini for Google Cloud will offer developers suggestions, code and answers drawn from Stack Overflow via OverflowAPI. Developers will also be able to reach Stack Overflow directly from the Google Cloud console. Stack Overflow selected Google Cloud to host and grow its public developer platform, and the first integrations were planned for the first half of 2024, with a preview at Google Cloud Next in April.1 The release did not state price or term length.

Background

Stack Overflow's CEO, Prashanth Chandrasekar, said that bringing the two companies' strengths together would accelerate innovation across industries.1 The deal was the first public customer of OverflowAPI and was followed in May 2024 by a similar agreement with OpenAI. Stack Overflow's archive of community-vetted answers had long been used by AI developers for code training, and the partnership moved that use onto a licensed footing.

What it means for data sellers

The agreement shows that a data license does not need to be a stand-alone contract. Stack Overflow combined hosting, product integration and data access in one announcement. Sellers who also consume a buyer's services can negotiate the two together, but should price each part separately in the contract so the value of the data is clear. A narrow, API-based grant with attribution is also easier to defend than broad rights to a full archive.

How the deal came together

  1. Stack Overflow launched OverflowAPI. The API gives AI products structured, attributed access to Stack Overflow's public knowledge base.
  2. Google Cloud became the first partner. Google integrated the content into Gemini for Google Cloud and the Google Cloud console.
  3. Hosting and AI features were bundled. Stack Overflow selected Google Cloud for hosting and planned to use Gemini for its own AI features.
  4. Joint press release. Both companies announced the deal on February 29, 2024, with first integrations planned for the first half of 2024.

Takeaways for companies with data

  • A strategic infrastructure relationship can carry a data license inside a larger commercial deal.
  • Being first to a new data product gives leverage for later buyers.
  • Announcements may omit price entirely, so negotiate confidentiality deliberately.

Sources

Every numbered reference above points to an entry here. Figures come from these pages as of the date shown at the top of the article. Where a source reports a number it got from unnamed people, the text says so.

  1. Stack Overflow and Google Cloud Announce Strategic Partnership to Bring Generative AI to Millions of Developers (Stack Overflow, February 2024)

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About the AI Data Deal Tracker

SellYourAIData tracks publicly reported sales and licenses of data to AI companies, with the price, terms and sources for each. Entries are checked against public reporting and updated as deals change. SellYourAIData was not involved in this deal. To ask what your company's data could sell for, get a free valuation. To report a deal, contact us.