#134 AI slop is taking over the internet

This week we discuss the increasing prevalence of AI generated content online (aka 'AI slop'), on social media and even in books, journalism and academic journals. 

We explore how AI tools are enabling the generation of slop at scale, unleashing a flood of low quality content that is degrading our information ecosystem, making it harder to access high quality, verified information, and even getting in the way of our ability to connect with other humans online.

Links:

Max AI slop feature article (New York Magazine - paywalled) https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/ai-generated-content-internet-online-slop-spam.html

Max Read discussing his article in New York Magazine - linked above (Read Max newsletter - not paywalled) https://maxread.substack.com/p/were-in-our-slop-era

Article on ecosystem behind AI slop content (The Conversation) https://theconversation.com/side-job-self-employed-high-paid-behind-the-ai-slop-flooding-tiktok-and-facebook-237638

Article about Meta using AI to generate comments (TechCrunch) https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/21/meta-spotted-testing-ai-generated-comments-on-instagram/

Article about Trump's use of slop (New Yorker)  https://www.newyorker.com/culture/critics-notebook/trump-is-the-emperor-of-ai-slop

Article about LinkedIn posts being AI slop (WIRED) https://www.wired.com/story/linkedin-ai-generated-influencers/

Article: AI slop is killing the internet (Guardian) https://www.theguardian.com/global/commentisfree/2025/jan/08/ai-generated-slop-slowly-killing-internet-nobody-trying-to-stop-it

404 Media coverage of AI slop (some paywalled) https://www.404media.co/tag/ai-slop/

Article on the closure of Wordfreq (404 Media) https://www.404media.co/project-analyzing-human-language-usage-shuts-down-because-generative-ai-has-polluted-the-data/

Credits:

Editing and post-production by Martin Franklin (East Coast Studio) www.eastcoaststudio.com.au

Music by Bensound.com