What is AI Slop?

But what is AI slop? How to recognize it and what can be done to prevent it?

What is AI slop?

'Slop' has become a term for any unwanted AI-generated content on the Internet, in the same way that 'spam' is synonymous with unwanted email. The term was first discovered on X, The latter was developed by open source developer Simon Willison, who defines 'slop' as 'made thoughtlessly and attacks someone who did not ask for it'.

Why do AI slops exist?

The driving force behind AI slops is that creating AI images is easy and cheap, and these attract likes and comments. In other words, it's engagement bait. AI slopping is a lot like Internet trolling: Even if the content isn't very good, what's important is that it gets people's attention.

It's just compelling enough to attract attention but not enough to ensure viewers will spend time actually analyzing the content.

What is AI Slop? Picture 1

'AI slop' can be difficult to identify, but you'll know it when you see it. One X account introduces it as 'Insane Facebook AI Slop'. Many of the account's posts showcase tropes associated with AI negligence, including religious images, animals, soldiers, bizarre handmade objects, etc.

AI sloping is also related to the theory that much of the Internet is now controlled by AI-powered bots and other AI tools, all busy creating a constant stream of content, crowding out human interaction. human. With many AI images generating thousands of likes and comments, it seems impossible that enough real people would interact to reach such numbers. However, with the interaction of a series of bots, it was enough to push this AI into the feeds of ordinary people.

While social media networks should do more to combat sloppy AI and the resulting interactions, rumors suggest they need bot activity to make sites look busy. When users leave social media networks, company owners still need the numbers to increase to maintain advertising income, and a series of bot activities easily blends with regular human activities. use.

How to recognize AI slop?

AI slop is clearly visible when looking at it. Anyone who has seen an AI-generated image can recognize it. In addition to people with extra or missing fingers, AI image generators also seem to have difficulty representing the nuances in human skin at press time. While there are tools to detect AI-generated images, anyone with eyes can clearly see that AI has many flaws.

What is AI Slop? Picture 2

As mentioned earlier, AI tends to look hyper-realistic, depicting situations that would likely never happen in real life. The Washington Post compared the spread of AI to the surrealist art movement. What would Salvador Dali think about Generative AI?

The captions for these images are almost meaningless. 'Beautiful Stewardess', 'Scarlett Johansson' and 'Why do photos like this never become a trend?' has become a meme and is frequently tagged in sloppy images of AI.

What can be done with AI Slop?

What can you do about the seemingly never-ending wave of AI failures? Unfortunately, options are limited and social media networks have to work harder to reduce such meaningless content. But there are some small steps you can take to combat AI slop.

Many people on X and other social media platforms laughed at the bizarre AI artwork circulating on the Internet. Perhaps it's a type of content bashing that they feel has been adopted by big tech companies.

The popularity of social media highlighting AI slop is helping to show that. Facebook's audience may not be familiar with AI-generated images. It's helpful to point out that what people see online may not be representative of the real world.

The AI ​​slop is a useful reminder for people to be skeptical about what they see. Not everything is foolproof, so it's important to remember that not everything you see on the Internet is real.

And of course, Generative AI tools don't seem to be going away. As with other technologies, you should use AI responsibly. Try not to contribute to the AI ​​slop problem!

Jessica Tanner

Update 17 July 2024