AI-Generated 'Slop' Declared Merriam-Webster's 2025 Word of the Year as Platforms Struggle
Merriam-Webster names 'slop' its 2025 Word of the Year, defining it as low-quality, AI-generated digital content. This reflects tech platforms' struggles with the influx and community division.
Overview
- Merriam-Webster officially designated "slop" as its 2025 Word of the Year, reflecting a significant trend in digital communication and content creation observed throughout the year.
- "Slop" is defined as digital content of low quality, often produced in large quantities by artificial intelligence, including widespread AI-generated images across social media platforms.
- The selection was influenced by growing concerns over misinformation, deceptive deepfakes, and copyright infringement issues stemming from the vast amount of AI-produced content online.
- Tech platforms are currently struggling with the overwhelming influx of generative AI content, which critics fear is actively contributing to the division of digital communities.
- Macquarie Dictionary also highlighted 'slop' for its relevance to AI and digital clutter, while Cambridge Dictionary selected 'parasocial' as their 2025 word of the year.
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Analysis
Center-leaning sources frame this story by emphasizing the negative implications of AI-generated content, using Merriam-Webster's "word of the year" as a springboard. They highlight the perceived low quality and overwhelming quantity of "slop," portraying it as a detrimental force in digital communities. The narrative focuses on concerns about content value and societal polarization, rather than exploring any potential benefits or neutral aspects of AI's impact on content creation.
"Merriam-Webster chose the word after seeing a large increase in lookup volume on their site amid a surge of “AI-slop” over the last year."
USA TODAY"The word “slop” has certainly been everywhere this year, as journalists and commentators have sought to describe the ways in which platforms like OpenAI’s Sora and Google Gemini’s Veo are transforming the internet."
TechCrunch"The wave of AI slop reflects not just how easy it's become to generate content at scale, but also how little of it often resonates meaningfully with human audiences."
CNET"Merriam-Webster has chosen one word to sum up 2025: Slop."
NBC News"The spike in searches for the word reflects that people have grown more aware of fake or shoddy content, and desire the inverse."
ABC NewsArticles (6)
Center (5)
FAQ
Merriam-Webster defines 'slop' as "digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence," encompassing things like absurd videos, weird advertising images, cheesy propaganda, fake news that looks real, and low-quality AI-written books.
Editors selected 'slop' because its usage and lookups rose in 2025 amid the proliferation of generative AI content online, and the term captures public concern over low-quality, often AI-generated material and related issues like misinformation and deepfakes.
A flood of AI-generated images and fast AI video generators produced many unrealistic or deceptive clips—sometimes featuring celebrities or deceased figures—which drove public discussion about misinformation, deepfakes, and copyright, factors Merriam-Webster cited when choosing 'slop'.
Yes; Merriam-Webster and reporting note that worries about the spread of misinformation, deceptive deepfakes, and potential copyright infringement from mass AI-produced content were major reasons the word felt especially relevant in 2025.[1]
The dictionary's editors review data on which words have risen in searches and usage over the year and then reach a consensus on the single word that best reflects that year’s cultural moment; they have made a selection annually since 2003.
History
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