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Slop (artificial intelligence)

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The multitude of AI-generated images of a "Shrimp Jesus" are a commonly used example of slop.[1][2]

Slop is low-quality media—including writing and images—made using generative artificial intelligence technology.[3][4][1] Coined in the 2020s, the term has a derogatory connotation akin to "spam".[3]

It has been variously defined as "digital clutter",[5] "filler content produced by AI tools that prioritize speed and quantity over substance and quality",[5] and "shoddy or unwanted AI content in social media, art, books and, increasingly, in search results".[6]

Jonathan Gilmore, Professor of Philosophy at the City University of New York, describes the "incredibly banal, realistic style" of AI slop as being "very easy to process".[7]

Origin of the term

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As large language models (LLMs) accelerated the creation of high-volume but low-quality written content and images, discussion commenced for the appropriate term for the volume. Terms proposed included "AI garbage", "AI pollution", and "AI-generated dross".[4] Early uses of the term "slop" as a descriptor for low-grade AI material apparently came in reaction to the release of AI art generators in 2022.[6] Its early use has been noted in the comments sections of 4chan, Hacker News and YouTube as a form of in-group slang.[6]

The British computer-programmer Simon Willison is credited for being an early champion of the term "slop" in the mainstream,[1][6] which he did in May 2024 on his personal blog.[8] However, he has said it was in use long before he began pushing for the term.[6]

The term gained increased popularity in second quarter 2024 in part because of Google's use of its Gemini AI model to generate responses to search queries,[6] and was widely used in media headlines by the fourth quarter of 2024.[1][3]

Research found that training LLMs on slop causes model collapse: a consistent decrease in the lexical, syntactic, and semantic diversity of the model outputs through successive iterations, notably remarkable for tasks demanding high levels of creativity.[9]

On social media

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Image generated using a slop prompt designed to appeal to a US audience, from a Hindi-language seminar: american soldier veteran holding cardboard sign that says ‘today’s my birthday, please like’ injured in battle veteran war american flag[3]

AI image and video slop proliferated on social media in part because it was revenue generating for its creators on Facebook and TikTok. This incentivizes individuals from developing countries to create images that appeal to audiences in the United States which attract higher advertising rates.[10][11][12]

The journalist Jason Koebler speculated that the bizarre nature of some of the content may be due to the creators using Hindi, Urdu, and Vietnamese prompts (languages which are underrepresented in the model's training data), or using erratic speech-to-text methods to translate their intentions into English.[10]

Speaking to New York magazine, a Kenyan creator of slop images described giving ChatGPT a prompt such as "WRITE ME 10 PROMPT picture OF JESUS WHICH WILLING BRING HIGH ENGAGEMENT ON FACEBOOK", and then feeding those created prompts into a text-to-image AI service such as Midjourney.[3]

In politics

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See also: Conspiracy theories about the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season § AI-generated images

The Atlantic noted that AI slop was becoming associated with the political right in the United States, who were using it for shitposting and engagement farming on social media, the technology offering "cheap, fast, on-demand fodder for content".[13]

In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in the United States an AI-generated image of a young girl holding a puppy while sitting in a boat floating on flooded waters circulated among members of the Republican Party, who used it as evidence of the failures of the administration of Joe Biden, the U.S. president, to respond to the disaster.[14] Some, like Amy Kremer, shared the image on social media even while acknowledging that it was not genuine.[15][16] The politician Mike Lee posted the image of the girl on social media before later deleting it. The image apparently originated on Patriots.win, an American right-wing internet forum.[17][unreliable source?]

In event listings

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Fantastical promotional graphics for the February 2024 Willy's Chocolate Experience event, characterised as "AI-generated slop",[18] misled audiences into attending an event which in reality was held in a cheaply decorated warehouse. One Reddit user expressed surprise that people were buying tickets for the event based only on AI-generated Facebook advertisements, with no genuine photographs of the venue.[19]

In October 2024, thousands of people were reported to have assembled for a non-existent Halloween parade in Dublin as a result of a listing on an aggregation listings website, MySpiritHalloween.com, which used AI-generated content.[20][21] The listing went viral on TikTok and Instagram.[22] While a similar parade had been held in Galway, and Dublin had hosted parades in prior years, there was no parade in Dublin in 2024.[21] One analyst characterized the website, which appeared to use AI-generated staff pictures, as likely using artificial intelligence "to create content quickly and cheaply where opportunities are found".[23] The site's owner said that "We asked ChatGPT to write the article for us, but it wasn't ChatGPT by itself."[24] In the past the site had removed non-existent events when contacted by their venues, but in the case of the Dublin parade the site owner said that "no one reported that this one wasn't going to happen".[24] MySpiritHalloween.com updated their page to say that the parade had been "canceled" when they became aware of the issue.[24]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Hern, Alex; Milmo, Dan (2024-05-19). "Spam, junk … slop? The latest wave of AI behind the 'zombie internet'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-09-28.
  2. ^ Notopoulos, Katie. "Why doesn't Facebook just ban AI slop like Shrimp Jesus?". Business Insider. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e Read, Max (2024-09-25). "Drowning in Slop". Intelligencer. Retrieved 2024-09-28.
  4. ^ a b "How Long Will A.I.'s 'Slop' Era Last?". The New York Times. July 24, 2024.
  5. ^ a b Hughes, Johnny (2024-09-03). "How Businesses Can Avoid AI Slop". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 2024-09-28.
  6. ^ a b c d e f "First Came 'Spam.' Now, With A.I., We've Got 'Slop'". The New York Times. June 11, 2024.
  7. ^ "The deluge of bonkers AI art is literally surreal". Washington Post. 2024-06-30. Retrieved 2024-09-29.
  8. ^ "Slop is the new name for unwanted AI-generated content". simonwillison.net. Retrieved 2024-10-04.
  9. ^ Guo, Yanzhu; Shang, Guokan; Vazirgiannis, Michalis; Clavel, Chloé (2024-04-16). "The Curious Decline of Linguistic Diversity: Training Language Models on Synthetic Text". arXiv:2311.09807 [cs.CL].
  10. ^ a b Koebler, Jason (2024-08-06). "Where Facebook's AI Slop Comes From". 404 Media. Retrieved 2024-09-29.
  11. ^ Tang, Jiaru; Wikström, Patrik (2024-09-19). "'Side job, self-employed, high-paid': behind the AI slop flooding TikTok and Facebook". The Conversation. Retrieved 2024-09-29.
  12. ^ Gault, Matthew (2024-08-07). "Facebook's Twisted Incentives Created Its AI Slop Era". Gizmodo. Retrieved 2024-09-29.
  13. ^ Warzel, Charlie (2024-08-21). "The MAGA Aesthetic Is AI Slop". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2024-09-29.
  14. ^ "Gullible Trump Cronies Losing Their Minds Over Fake AI Slop on Twitter". Yahoo News. 2024-10-04. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
  15. ^ Koebler, Jason (October 8, 2024). "Hurricane Helene and the 'Fuck It' Era of AI-Generated Slop". 404 Media. Retrieved October 15, 2024.
  16. ^ Warzel, Charlie (October 10, 2024). "I'M RUNNING OUT OF WAYS TO EXPLAIN HOW BAD THIS IS". The Atlantic. Retrieved October 15, 2024.
  17. ^ Klee, Miles (2024-10-04). "Right-Wingers Heartbroken by Picture of Little Girl Who Doesn't Exist". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2024-10-05.
  18. ^ Currie, Richard (28 February 2024). "Willy Wonka event leaves bitter taste with artificially sweetened promises". The Register. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
  19. ^ Murphy, Chris (29 February 2024). ""Willy's Chocolate Experience" Nightmare: What Went Wrong?". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
  20. ^ Davis, Barney (1 November 2024). "Chaos in Dublin as thousands turn up for AI 'hoax' Halloween parade that didn't exist". The Independent. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  21. ^ a b "All Trick, No Treat: Dublin Crowds Turn Up for Halloween Parade That Wasn't". The New York Times. November 1, 2024.
  22. ^ Fleck, Holly (2 November 2024). "Dublin: Halloween parade listing 'mistake' says website owner". BBC News. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
  23. ^ O'Shea, Kerry (31 October 2024). "All trick no treat - "Hoax" Halloween parade draws big crowds to Dublin's O'Connell St". IrishCentral.com. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  24. ^ a b c Knibbs, Kate. "The Guy Behind the Fake AI Halloween Parade Listing Says You've Got It All Wrong". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
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