AI Slop.
Also known as: slop
Low-value AI-generated content. Usually slop means work produced quickly and in large volumes with little critical human oversight, and it often pops up in the places where we'd expect human-grade material, so the contrast makes it visible. AI slop can be images, articles, reviews, music, video, even company reports. AI slop is content with a bad ratio of considered thought to content volume. But AI generated content isn't necessarily slop, and slop isn't negative only because AI was involved. It's actually the lack of good human judgement to filter, craft and edit the AI generated content that creates the slop part. Merriam-Webster made "slop" its word of the year in 2025, and LinkedIn now even has a "report AI slop" button to counter the flood of AI generated content that's boomed on the platform.
In the wild
“Platforms are finally recognizing that people don’t want to consume AI slop”
Seen here: Wired, August 2026
For AI users
Slop can damage your reputation. Just because you can create many more times more content than before doesn't mean al that work should all be published or shared. Are you proud of the work created? Do you want to put your name on it? Two good judgement checks. More slop means more to wade through for the end user, so you may be making it harder for them to extract something good from your thoughts and work in the first place. Try not to create a new problem for your reader by making slop, rather than using AI to help you craft something of real value and quality.
For business leaders
AI slop can damage brands, as it erodes customer and colleague trust over time. Teams need to be trained not just in how to use AI, but as ever, in how to apply judgement and preserve their human thought and originality where it matters. It might seem efficient to use AI, as it can churn out significantly more content than was previously possible, but that huge volume of limited quality content may be reducing the effectiveness of the content itself. It isn't efficient at all if it's damaging customer trust. Know too that those buying your products, whether that's B2C or B2B will be wading through significant volumes of slop so your messages truly need to cut through.