This AI pervasive side effect is Merriam-Webster's word of the year

Four little letters capture the tsunami of low-quality content inundating online life and corroding reality in 2025: "slop." The big picture: That slop is seeping beyond our screens into everyday vernacular, earning it the title of Merriam-Webster's 2025 Word of the Year. The dictionary is not alone. The Economist also chose "slop" as the word that defined 2025.Context: AI slop is everywhere — and it's gotten harder to spot — so we're sure to keep using the word in the years to come.Merriam-Webster defines the term as "digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence."It can also mean "a product of little or no value," food waste fed to animals and soft mud, among other usages.Context: In 2025, digital waste can look like fake woodland creatures jumping on a treadmill or infants in comically absurd situations — but it can also lead to the spread of dangerous misinformation. But Ben Kusin, founder of AI studio Kartel, told Axios' Megan Morrone earlier this year that while AI has fueled the current scale of slop, it isn't necessarily new. He pointed to shows like "America's Funniest Home Videos" that could be considered an earlier iteration of the slop that's now infiltrating our feeds.Worth noting: Slop doesn't just exist within the bounds of our social media bubbles — "workslop" is clogging up businesses and duping shoppers on e-commerce platforms.Yes, but: Merriam-Webster says that calling content "slop" sets "a tone that's less fearful, more mocking."Their release read, "The word sends a little message to AI: when it comes to replacing human creativity, sometimes you don't seem too superintelligent."Zoom out: Other words of the year that Merriam-Webster said stood out in their lookup data included:gerrymander, fueled by the redistricting war gripping the country ahead of next year's midterm races;"touch grass," a search term that spiked after Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) encouraged people to do so after right-wing activist Charlie Kirk was killed; tariff, an import tax that has become a key part of President Trump's trade and foreign relations strategy;and "six seven" — a phrase that's sparked a Gen Alpha craze taking over classrooms and sporting events across the country. The bottom line: The internet has long had a problem with spam, junk and scams. Now, thanks to the English language, we have another word to describe the wacky content scrambling our scrolling.Just beware — devouring too much slop may lead to a diagnosis of Oxford's 2024 word of the year: brain rot.Go deeper: How to use "skibidi" and other new slang added to Cambridge Dictionary