Let’s be honest. You’ve seen it. You’re scrolling through Facebook or X, and there it is—a picture of a shrimp made of plastic bottles or a cabin in the woods that looks slightly too glossy to be real. It’s weird. It’s everywhere. Lately, a lot of people have started saying, "I really like slop," and they aren't talking about cafeteria food. They’re talking about the massive wave of AI-generated content that is currently drowning the internet.
The term "slop" wasn't even a thing in this context a year ago. Now, it's the definitive label for those uninspired, often nonsensical images and articles pumped out by Large Language Models (LLMs) and diffusion generators. It’s the digital equivalent of spam, but it’s harder to ignore because it’s so visual.
Why do we care? Because the internet is changing. Fast. We’re moving away from a web built by humans for humans, and entering an era where algorithms talk to other algorithms while we just kind of watch from the sidelines. It's messy.
What People Get Wrong About the Rise of Slop
Most people think "slop" is just bad AI art. That’s too simple. Slop is a systemic issue. It’s what happens when the incentive to produce volume outweighs the incentive to produce quality. If a creator can make 1,000 AI-generated images of "Jesus made of shrimp" in the time it takes an artist to paint one canvas, and the algorithm rewards the frequency of posting, the slop wins.
It’s about the eyeballs.
The phrase i really like slop has become a bit of a meme, often used ironically by people who find the absurdity of AI hallucinations entertaining. There is a strange, nihilistic joy in watching a computer try to render a human hand and failing so spectacularly that the person ends up with seven fingers and a wrist made of spaghetti. But beneath the irony, there’s a real concern about what this does to our information ecosystem. When we stop being able to distinguish between a real photo and a prompt-engineered fever dream, trust starts to erode.
The Economics of Why We Keep Seeing This Stuff
Follow the money. It always comes down to the money. Platforms like Facebook and Pinterest have seen a massive surge in AI content because it generates "zombie engagement." You’ve probably seen the comments sections on these posts. They’re filled with bots saying "Amen!" or "Beautiful!" to a picture of an AI-generated dog that doesn't actually exist.
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This creates a feedback loop.
- An AI bot posts slop.
- Other bots comment on the slop to boost its visibility.
- The platform’s algorithm sees the high engagement and pushes the post to real humans.
- Real humans, confused or amused, interact with it.
- The creator makes a few cents from ad revenue or affiliate links.
It’s a low-margin, high-volume business model. It doesn't matter if 99% of people hate it as long as 1% click. For the person running a "slop farm" in a low-cost-of-living area, those few cents add up to a full-time living. This is why the sentiment of i really like slop is often voiced by the people profiting from it—even if they don't use those exact words. They like the ease. They like the scale.
The Weird Psychology of Slop Appreciation
There is a subset of the internet that genuinely enjoys this stuff. Not because it’s "good" in a traditional sense, but because it represents a new kind of surrealism. Simon Willison, a well-known developer and co-creator of Django, has written extensively about the "slop" phenomenon. He notes that while "spam" is something you don't want, "slop" is something that's just... there. It's filler.
Some users find it soothing. It’s like digital white noise. You don’t have to think to consume it. It’s bright, it’s colorful, and it requires zero emotional investment. If you say i really like slop, you might just be admitting that you’re tired of the high-stakes, high-stress nature of the "real" internet. Slop is low-stakes. It’s meaningless.
But we have to be careful. Meaninglessness has a cost.
When Slop Becomes Dangerous
It’s all fun and games when it’s a picture of a cat in a tuxedo. It’s less funny when the slop starts bleeding into news and health advice. We’ve already seen AI-generated mushroom foraging guides on Amazon that contained potentially lethal advice because the AI didn't actually know the difference between a chanterelle and a poisonous lookalike. It just knew how to string words together that sounded like a guide.
This is the "hallucination" problem. AI doesn't have a concept of truth. It has a concept of probability. It predicts the next most likely token. If the most likely token is a lie, the AI says it anyway.
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- Google’s "AI Overviews" recently told users to put glue on pizza to keep the cheese from sliding off.
- AI-generated obituaries have been caught scraping data from funeral home websites and adding fabricated details to get clicks.
- Mushroom experts have had to issue formal warnings about AI-written books.
When someone says i really like slop, they usually aren't thinking about the dead-end SEO articles that prevent them from finding actual medical help or the correct way to fix a leaky faucet. They're thinking about the memes. But the infrastructure that supports the memes is the same one that prioritizes a fake AI article over a researched piece by a journalist.
How to Spot the Slop Before It Spots You
You have to develop a "slop-dar." It’s a new literacy skill for the 2020s.
Look at the edges of the images. AI struggles with where one object ends and another begins. If a person’s hair is merging into the background of a brick wall, it’s slop. If the text on a sign looks like it was written in a demonic language that is almost English but not quite, it’s slop.
In writing, look for the "mid-wit" tone. It’s that overly polite, slightly repetitive, and extremely structured way of speaking that lacks any "voice" or specific personal anecdotes. If an article spends four paragraphs telling you that "it's important to consider various factors" without ever naming a specific factor, you're reading slop.
The Future: A Dead Internet or a Filtered One?
There’s a theory called the "Dead Internet Theory." It suggests that most of the internet is already just bots talking to bots. While that’s an exaggeration for now, the rise of slop makes it feel more plausible every day.
We’re likely headed toward a "bifurcated web."
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On one side, you’ll have the open web, which will be 95% AI-generated filler. It’ll be free, but it’ll be exhausting to navigate. On the other side, you’ll have "human-verified" spaces—gated communities, paid newsletters, and platforms with strict identity verification. You’ll pay a premium to ensure that the person you’re reading actually exists.
I don't think we can stop the slop. The cat is out of the bag. The cost of generation is now essentially zero. When the cost of production is zero, the volume goes to infinity.
Actionable Steps for Navigating the Slop Era
If you're feeling overwhelmed by the sheer amount of junk online, there are actual things you can do to clean up your digital life. You don't have to just accept that i really like slop is the new reality.
- Curate your sources aggressively. Use RSS feeds or follow specific individuals on platforms like Mastodon or Bluesky where the bot-to-human ratio is still manageable.
- Support human creators directly. If you find a writer or artist you love, sign up for their Patreon or buy their work. The middle-class creator is the first victim of the slop-pocalypse.
- Use "Search Operators." When searching Google, use
-"AI"or site-specific searches likesite:reddit.comto find actual human discussions, though even Reddit is being infiltrated. - Demand better from platforms. If a social media site is showing you nothing but AI-generated garbage, stop using it. User count is the only metric these companies truly care about.
- Develop a skeptical eye. Before sharing a "heartwarming" story or a "shocking" photo, take five seconds to look for the tells. Check the hands. Check the text. Check the source.
The internet isn't dead yet, but it is getting weirder. Whether you genuinely think i really like slop or you're horrified by it, the reality is that we are the ones who decide what has value. A machine can generate a billion images, but it can't feel the impact of one. That’s still our job.
Key Takeaways for the Digital Consumer
- Understand the Incentive: Slop exists because it is cheap to make and easy to monetize through automated engagement.
- Identify the Hallucinations: Look for physical inconsistencies in images and "fluff" in writing to identify AI-generated content.
- Value Human Curation: Prioritize platforms and creators that have a clear, verifiable human identity and a track record of accuracy.
- Limit Algorithmic Feeding: Spend less time on "For You" pages and more time in spaces you have intentionally curated.
The next time you see a bizarre AI image and think to yourself, i really like slop, enjoy the weirdness for a second—but then keep scrolling until you find something real. The future of the web depends on our ability to tell the difference.