'Slop' is the word of the year. What to do about AI taking over your feeds |
'Slop' is the word of the year. What to do about AI taking over your feeds
Merriam-Webster crowned “slop” word of the year — just as AI junk overwhelms feeds, and platforms offer ways for users to turn the noise down
ByShannon Carroll Share to X Share to Facebook Share to Reddit Share to Email Share to LinkJaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The internet has spent the year arguing about whether AI is genius, theft, or destiny. Merriam-Webster’s editors cut through it with a simpler verdict: slop. The dictionary crowned “slop” its 2025 “word of the year,” joining in on the anti-AI backlash and recognizing that the internet’s new factory setting looks a lot like synthetic filler — low-quality AI content, made in bulk, and poured straight into feeds until the human parts get buried. If your For You page has started to resemble a trough of glossy, almost-real nonsense, congrats, you’re experiencing a cultural moment — with a dictionary entry.
The term has always sounded like something you’d scrape off a boot. Now, it’s also what you scrape off your social media. Merriam-Webster defines “slop” as “digital content of low quality that is produced........