Dismiss AI slop at your peril

History is full of dire predictions about technology rotting our brains. The truth is usually more nuanced, writes Shaun Davies.

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Let’s talk about slop – the deep-faking, engagement-baiting, time-sapping, work-spoiling AI content that’s rotting our brains, destroying democracy and ripping at the fabric of reality. Or so the story goes.

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As 2025 draws to a close, it feels like we’re drowning in AI-generated content. But we’re also drowning in hot takes complaining about slop. Nick Cave says it’s “a grotesque mockery of what it is to be human”. The Atlantic calls it “a tool that crushes creativity”. The Guardian says that AI slop is “destroying the internet”.

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I, too, enjoy complaining about slop. I agree that a lot of it is shit. I also agree that it has the potential to cause real-world problems.

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But I think it’s worth considering that all this dismissive “slop” talk that dominates media discussion of AI content is a psychological safety blanket, rationalising away the threat posed to our already-disrupted media ecosystems.

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To illustrate why, let me take you on a lightning historical tour of media technologies. What did some of history’s greatest minds have to say about the emergent technologies of their times?

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‍Read the full article on Mumbrella.

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