AI URL Guessing Sparks 404s, Dev Turns Logs into Product Roadmap
hermanschutte · x · 2026-07-06
A developer noticed 120 accesses to the /null path and persistent requests for a non-existent /contact page in their website's 404 logs. Investigation revealed that AI tools like ChatGPT, when answering user questions about the site, guessed URLs based on common site structures, resulting in mostly 404 errors.
This phenomenon highlights the real impact of AI hallucinated URLs on web traffic: behind every 404 record is a user unable to find an answer. The developer repurposed these 404 logs into a feature requirement list to uncover what users are actually looking for, presenting a novel, low-cost approach to mining product needs.
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