GoKawiilGoRails creator says AI has cut new customer growth for programming tutorials
Chris Oliver, who runs the Rails education platform GoRails and the hosting product Hatchbox, said in September 2026 that AI has hurt his education business badly enough that GoRails will sign fewer new customers this year than in its very first year of operation. He said GoRails' revenue had long subsidized Hatchbox's development but that this arrangement is no longer sustainable, prompting a Hatchbox price increase. A separate developer-education seller writing about the announcement says his own gross revenue from traditional tutorials and books has also been declining.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
Oliver's account suggests AI tools are changing how developers learn, letting them get direct, personalized answers rather than working through generic example-based tutorials, which could undermine the business model behind tutorial sites, courses and books. The author frames this as evidence of a broader shift beyond his own experience, though the evidence so far comes from two individuals' businesses rather than industry-wide data. If the pattern holds across the sector, it could force educators to change pricing, format or reliance on tutorial revenue to fund other products.
- GoRails' Chris Oliver says AI has hurt his education business's new-customer growth in 2026.
- GoRails revenue previously subsidized development of the Hatchbox hosting product, a model he calls unsustainable now.
- A second developer-education seller reports his own gross revenue from tutorials and books has similarly declined.
Source: robrace.dev, 2026-09-24
Published there as: “Programming Tutorials Are Dead”
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