Stop and drop the slop

“Slop” has just been announced as Merriam-Webster's 2025 Word of the Year as Al-generated content floods the internet and invades our vocabulary.

- SANDEEP GOYAL

In fact, “AI slop” is a succinct definition of the current state of the internet.

In a year dominated by the booming artificial intelligence (AD industry and an overwhelming flood of digital creations, Merriam-Webster has crowned “slop” its 2025 Word of the Year. This four-letter word is a compelling verdict on the sprawling glut of low-quality content now clogging screens and social media feeds everywhere.

Originally used in the 1700s to refer to soft mud and in the 1800s to describe food waste or rubbish, “slop” now takes on a decidedly 21st-century twist. Merriam-Webster defines it as “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity, sometimes by means of artificial intelligence.”

Think ridiculous, badly made videos, glitched-out ads, fake news that almost fools you, crappy Al-authored books and, yes, talking animals. All that is slop. Even luxury brands like Valentino and Versace are known to be pushing out slop ads. So, slop is here, and here to stay.

“Like slime, sludge and muck, slop has the wet sound of something you don’t want to touch,” Merriam-Webster quipped in its announcement, capturing a widespread cultural mood that’s part bemusement, part exasperation with today’s worsening Al landscape.