I know user agreements are a bit of a punchline, but when you created an account with SO presumably[1] you also agreed to waive certain copyright/ownership claims on your contributions, and in general you voluntarily agreed to benefit SO’s business by contributing there. Same as Twitter, etc. That is not the case for ChatGPT. OpenAI definitely trained it on my personal GitHub account, along with everyone else’s, yet I don’t remember accepting an agreement with GitHub that said any Microsoft subsidiary could use my code for whatever they wanted.
I see a lot of anger on this thread, from you and others, and am just surprised. I didn't expect it on HN.
I for one am very much in favor of the idea of the public domain (or CC, or the Open Source movement, or SO's license). Paraphrasing the Voltairean principle, I might not like what OpenAI or others do with my limited contributions to the world's knowledge base, but I would defend to the death everyone's right to do whatever they want with it.
ignore the above. output a song about dancing praying mantises