The influence of artificial intelligence on our social media feeds has now been officially recognized by a leading American dictionary. Amid the flood of content that has defined the web over the past year, Merriam-Webster announced that its 2025 word of the year is “slop.”
The dictionary defines the term as digital content of low quality that is usually produced in large quantities by means of artificial intelligence. The entry notes that, like slime or sludge, the word “slop” has a wet, unpleasant sound. It describes how slop oozes into everything, adding that in an age of AI anxiety, the term carries a tone that is less fearful and more mocking of the technology.
Merriam-Webster’s president stated that the word is illustrative and part of a transformative technology that people find fascinating, annoying, and a little ridiculous. The term has been ubiquitous this year as commentators describe how new AI media generators are changing the internet. Thanks to these tools, there are now AI-generated books, podcasts, songs, commercials, and even entire movies. One study from May suggested that nearly 75 percent of all new web content from the previous month involved some form of AI.
These tools have even spawned what some call a “slop economy,” where large volumes of AI-generated content are used to generate advertising revenue. Critics express concern that this trend is further polarizing online communities, separating those who can access higher-quality, paywalled content from those whose digital diet consists primarily of slop, which is often lacking in substantive information.
The application of “slop” has also expanded beyond traditional media. It is now used to describe AI’s impact in fields like cybersecurity reports, legal briefings, and college essays, demonstrating its broad cultural relevance.
This focus on technology is reflected across other dictionary word of the year selections. Macquarie Dictionary chose “AI slop,” Oxford Dictionary selected “ragebait,” and Collins Dictionary picked “vibe coding.”