Merriam-Webster has named "slop" as its 2025 Word of the Year, a choice that underscores the pervasive influence of low-quality, AI-generated content across digital platforms. The announcement by one of America's leading dictionaries reflects the significant impact artificial intelligence has had on online discourse and content creation over the past year.
The dictionary defines "slop" as "digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence." Merriam-Webster notes the word's evocative nature, stating, "Like slime, sludge, and muck, slop has the wet sound of something you don’t want to touch. Slop oozes into everything." The dictionary further explains that in an era marked by AI anxiety, "slop" offers a tone that is "less fearful, more mocking" of the technology's less desirable outputs.
"It’s such an illustrative word," Merriam-Webster’s president, Greg Barlow, told The Associated Press. "It’s part of a transformative technology, AI, and it’s something that people have found fascinating, annoying, and a little bit ridiculous."
Indeed, the term "slop" has become ubiquitous as journalists and commentators grapple with the internet's transformation by AI platforms such as OpenAI’s Sora and Google Gemini’s Veo. This new generation of media generators has led to an explosion of AI-generated books, podcasts, pop songs, TV commercials, and even entire movies. A study conducted in May claimed that nearly 75 percent of all new web content from the preceding month involved some form of AI.
The proliferation of these tools has also given rise to what some have termed a "slop economy," where vast quantities of AI-generated content are exploited for advertising revenue. Critics express concern that this trend is exacerbating digital community polarization, creating a divide between those who can access paywalled, high-quality content and those whose digital diet consists primarily of "slop," which often lacks significant informational value.
Beyond traditional media consumption, "slop" has also been used to describe AI's impact on diverse fields, including cybersecurity reports, legal briefings, and college essays, demonstrating its broad and far-reaching influence.
This year, technology-related terms have prominently featured in "Word of the Year" selections across various dictionaries. Macquarie Dictionary, for instance, chose "AI slop" as its annual term, while Oxford Dictionary opted for "ragebait." Collins Dictionary, meanwhile, selected "vibe coding."
