AI's 'Slop' Declared Word of the Year
AI
Artificial Intelligence
Merriam-Webster
Slop
Content Generation
Meta
OpenAI
Disney
Technology
8
Content Decay
Media Hype
7/10
Real Impact
8/10
What is the Viqus Verdict?
We evaluate each news story based on its real impact versus its media hype to offer a clear and objective perspective.
AI Analysis:
While the initial hype around AI's 'slop' might be fading, the underlying problem – the potential for AI to devalue human creativity – remains a significant and long-term concern, justifying a high impact score.
Article Summary
Merriam-Webster has crowned ‘slop’ as its 2025 Word of the Year, a term that has become increasingly prevalent in the digital landscape. Defined as ‘digital content of low quality produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence,’ ‘slop’ encapsulates the rising tide of AI-generated material overwhelming popular platforms like YouTube, Wikipedia, and Spotify. While some sites, such as Meta and OpenAI, actively combat this influx, others, including Disney, are embracing it, recognizing its potential reach. The selection highlights a critical shift in the relationship between human creativity and AI, raising concerns about the quality and value of online content. The choice underscores a growing unease about the uncritical adoption of AI and its impact on established creative industries.Key Points
- The term ‘slop’ has emerged to describe the overwhelming amount of low-quality, AI-generated content online.
- Several major websites, including YouTube and Wikipedia, are taking steps to mitigate the spread of ‘slop’ created by AI.
- Disney's investment in OpenAI demonstrates a strategic embrace of AI-generated content despite concerns about quality.