I live in a farming community. I know what slop is.
Do you?
An explanation
Merriam Webster chose “slop” as 2025’s Word of the Year based on look ups and popular use on the internet. That means it has nothing to do with the soft mud or pig slop of agriculture. Instead, the “slop” of 2025 describes “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in (high) quantity by means of AI (artificial intelligence).”
Simply put, slop is visual junk.
AI slop permeates the internet. Last fall, big tech companies like Google, Meta, and OpenAI released AI video generators to the public. Products like Veo 3 (Google), Vibes (Meta), and Sora (Open AI) make it easy for anyone to create short videos based on a prompt. Some of these products are integrated into social media apps. For example, one could use Veo 3 inside of YouTube to create YouTube shorts. Similar AI generators for still images have been around even longer. The result: slop everywhere.
If the term “slop” sounds derogatory to you, it’s meant to. Some consider it a mocking term, a criticism of AI that conveys the message that AI can’t replace human creativity.
Slop: the problems
Whether or not the images and videos are good, they flood our social media feeds and create multiple problems. The overwhelming presence of AI generated images and videos makes it even harder for us to believe what we see. Already in our country, people don’t trust media. The arrival of AI slop only worsens the problem and deepens existing polarization.
Problem: slop confuses fact and fiction.
President Trump recently shared a photo of himself holding an American flag near a sign that says, “GREENLAND, US Territory est. 2026.” Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio stand behind the president, all of them wearing dark suits in a frozen, rocky landscape. President Trump also released an AI generated image of himself in the Oval Office surrounded by officials. In the image, he points to a large map of North America. Most of the land, including Canada and Greenland, is covered by the US flag. The images are fiction. As of January, 2026, the US does not encompass Canada or Greenland. These images blur the truth.
Problem: slop can contribute to damaging online behavior.
Elon Musk’s AI generator Grok recently faced scrutiny because users were asking Grok to undress images of women on the platform. And it did. AI tools make it easier to produce “deep fakes,” content that looks and sounds highly realistic but can misrepresent people or their actions. For example, boys at a middle school in Louisiana recently shared nude photos of one of their female classmates. The photos were deep fakes. AI generated videos have also circulated showing doctors endorsing treatments that they don’t actually endorse.
Problem: social media companies are not concerned with safety or quality.
The pictures we scroll past on Instagram and Facebook are small. The popular ones, or the ones the algorithm feeds us, are designed to illicit an emotional response. Tech companies don’t care if the images are good or true; they just want us to react, like, and share. Everything happens quickly, which doesn’t allow time for rational criticism or thoughtful consideration of whether or not what we share is helpful or accurate.
Tech companies make money when we generate slop and engage with content. They have no legal obligation or financial inclination to set up guidelines for quality or accuracy. We are going to have to demand that ourselves. And we have a tough road ahead.
How to fight back
The challenge is steep, but we are not helpless. We can fight the rise of slop by adopting more intentional and healthy habits in our digital lives. First, we must stop and evaluate images we encounter online. We should pause and ask ourselves a few questions before we jump into engagement with the content. What is the source of this image? How reliable is the source? Are there other versions of this image from other outlets? And if the image evokes an intense response, we should be highly suspicious.
We also need to get information from places besides social media. Quick hits of text and images from an app like Facebook or TikTok do not paint a complete picture. We need to consult multiple reputable sources to learn how accurate information is. We cannot get all of our information from one channel, influencer, or feed.
Finally, a great antidote to slop is spending time outside of the digital world. We should, to quote another term from 2025, “touch grass.” That means we need to engage with nature and interact with real people to protect a sense of balance and reality in our lives.
Slop is everywhere online. But we don’t have to roll in it. Please be thoughtful about what you consume and share.
Read more tips on how to have a healthy relationship with tech here.
How are you fighting back against slop? Have you had a bad experience with it? Share in the comments.
Thanks for getting nerdy with me!
