AI-generated Content ('AI Slop')

Extracted Attributes

• Definition

  Low-quality media made with generative artificial intelligence

• Connotation

  Pejorative, similar to 'spam'

• Characteristics

  Lack of effort, overwhelming volume, digital clutter, filler content, prioritizes speed and quantity over substance and quality, incredibly banal realistic style, repetitive, vague, or simply wrong

• Creation Method

  Fast, easy, and inexpensive to make using AI tools

• Ethical Concerns

  Spreading misinformation, legal and ethical repercussions of unfiltered AI use

• Impact on Creators

  Harms artists by causing job and financial losses, crowds out content made by real creators

• Motivation for Creation

  Exploiting economics of attention, earning quick ad revenue, profitability

• Examples of Content Types

  Text (blog posts, essays, books), visuals (images, infographics, fake celebrity endorsements), audio (music, robotic voiceovers), video (fake news reports, viral videos)

• Impact on Information Discovery

  Interferes with essential services, hijacks search rankings, pushes low-quality content to the forefront

Timeline

• The term 'AI slop' was coined. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2020s

• Rise of AI slop due to the launch of AI-generated content apps and advancements in AI models. (Source: Document 6a8e1382-9ce0-453a-8a79-14c372ba5c66)

  Ongoing

AI slop

"AI slop", often simply "slop", is a term for low-quality media made with generative artificial intelligence. It is characterized by an inherent lack of effort and is currently being generated at an overwhelming volume. Coined in the 2020s, the term has a pejorative connotation similar to "spam". AI slop has been variously defined as "digital clutter", "filler content [prioritizing] speed and quantity over substance and quality", and "shoddy or unwanted AI content in social media, art, books and [...] search results". Jonathan Gilmore, a philosophy professor at the City University of New York, describes the material as having an "incredibly banal, realistic style" which is easy for the viewer to process.

Web Search Results

• AI Slop: How AI-Generated Content is Impacting ...

  AI slop refers to the flood of low-quality media—ranging from writing to images—generated by artificial intelligence technologies. This problem has become so widespread that it’s starting to interfere with essential services, from social media updates to vital information during crises. And the issue is only growing worse, especially in times of urgent need, like during recent natural disasters. ## AI Slop During Hurricanes: A Crisis Exposed [...] Unfortunately, AI slop isn’t just limited to times of crisis. It has infiltrated nearly every corner of the web. Whether you’re looking for product reviews, researching a topic for school or trying to follow the latest news, chances are you’ve encountered AI-generated content that offers little to no value. Social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok are also seeing a surge in AI-generated visuals, from fake celebrity endorsements to poorly crafted infographics that spread misinformation [...] Search is about trust. When you type a query into Google or another search engine, you expect the top results to be reliable and relevant. Yet AI-generated slop can hijack search rankings, pushing low-quality content to the forefront. The solution lies in better curating results, using AI to assist in parsing through vast datasets, but ensuring human oversight and editorial control remain central.

• AI Sloppiness's Zero Trust Implications | by Sam Bobo

  1. Creative Efficiency — generating content using Artificial Intelligence as a tool for productivity gains. Examples include _intentionally_ building marketing creatives, AI-artwork as a business, initial outlines for text-based content (e.g blogs, essays, books) and more. 2. AI Slop — mass producing and/or circulating AI content with ill-intended reasons. Examples include non-factual viral videos or images, unchecked mass-produced generated content, and more.

• Why is AI Slop Flooding the Internet—and Can It Be Stopped?

  TL;DR: AI Slop—a new term in the digital lexicon to describe a more recent influx of AI-generated content of poor quality—is on the rise, thanks to AI-powered tools that can churn out text, visuals, and audio with little to no effort. Many feel this mindlessly-generated content pollutes the internet with bad writing and misinformation—raising red flags about the legal and ethical repercussions that the unfiltered use of AI could create in the content creation space. ## What Is AI Slop? [...] From false CNN-styled news reports to bad advice, AI Slop is disrupting the internet. And it’s messing with our minds in the process.From weird product reviews narrated by robotic voiceovers to bizarre AI-powered images of Shrimp Jesus, “AI Slop” basically refers to low-quality content on the internet made with generative AI tools that’s usually repetitive, vague, or simply wrong. [...] AI Slop is on the rise mainly because it’s easy to create—and it can be super profitable, too. In an era where content is king, generative AI offers a golden opportunity for creators looking to earn quick ad revenue from SEO-optimized content that gets clicks. With AI-powered tools, anyone can produce an unlimited deluge of blog posts, infographics, photos, and videos in seconds.

• 'AI Slop' Is Turning Up Everywhere. An Expert Explains ...

  These are examples of AI slop, low- to mid-quality content – video, images, audio, text, or a mix – created with AI tools, often with little regard for accuracy. It's fast, easy, and inexpensive to make this content. AI slop producers typically place it on social media to exploit the economics of attention on the internet, displacing higher-quality material that could be more helpful. Related: New Viral Indie Rock Sensation Reveals They're 100% AI [...] Listening to Spotify? Be skeptical of that new band, The Velvet Sundown, that appeared on the streaming service with a creative backstory and derivative tracks. It's AI-generated. In many cases, people submit AI slop that's just good enough to attract and keep users' attention, allowing the submitter to profit from platforms that monetize streaming and view-based content. [...] AI slop also harms artists by causing job and financial losses and crowding out content made by real creators. The placement of this lower-quality AI-generated content is often not distinguished by the algorithms that drive social media consumption, and it displaces entire classes of creators who previously made their livelihood from online content.

• What is AI slop? A technologist explains

  These are examples of AI slop, or low- to mid-quality content—video, images, audio, text or a mix—created with AI tools, often with little regard for accuracy. It’s fast, easy, and inexpensive to make this content. AI slop producers typically place it on social media to exploit the economics of attention on the internet, displacing higher-quality material that could be more helpful. [...] The song “Let it Burn,” allegedly recorded by a band called The Velvet Sundown, was AI-generated. Listening to Spotify? Be skeptical of that new band, The Velvet Sundown, that appeared on the streaming service with a creative backstory and derivative tracks. It’s AI-generated. In many cases, people submit AI slop that’s just good enough to attract and keep users’ attention, allowing the submitter to profit from platforms that monetize streaming and view-based content. [...] AI slop also harms artists by causing job and financial losses and crowding out content made by real creators. The placement of this lower-quality AI-generated content is often not distinguished by the algorithms that drive social media consumption, and it displaces entire classes of creators who previously made their livelihood from online content.