Overview
- Merriam-Webster defines “slop” as digital content of low quality produced in quantity by artificial intelligence.
- Editors selected the term after analyzing search trends, a process the publisher’s president Greg Barlow described as pairing data signals with editorial judgment.
- The choice aligns with a broader 2025 pattern as other lexicographers highlighted AI-linked terms, including Oxford’s “rage bait,” Collins’ “vibe coding,” Cambridge’s updated “parasocial,” and The Economist’s earlier nod to “slop.”
- Reports documented AI slop surging on YouTube, prompting a monetisation policy change requiring “original” and “authentic” content, while Bloomberg found AI‑generated videos proliferating on YouTube Kids.
- The spread has extended to offices through “workslop” described by Harvard Business Review, and researchers, including an MIT study on chatbots, warn of potential cognitive downsides, especially for young users.