The year 2025 was defined by the hype that spread online, and AI slop became widely known as a pervasive problem.
Primarily, it has been observed that as of late December 2025, more than 50% of all new English content on the web is being generated by AI, leading to a cyberspace that many describe as reaching a breaking point. Proactive AI chatbots are rapidly taking over the digital market
From these intrusive bots to absurd e-commerce product summaries, “AI slop” will reach a new peak in 2025, flooding search engines and shopping platforms with automated spans.
The term has been circulating online since the early 2020s, but data shows it reached a new peak this year.
AI Slop has won the 2025 Word of the Year title from Merriam-Webster and the Australian Dictionary of the Japanese Language.
As we near the end of the year, we can look back and see how AI capabilities have changed the most used sites on the internet.
Proliferation of AI fuels financial markets as they race to dominate the new economy
Market hype fueling the rise of AI and competition for economic dominance is in line with leading analysts' predictions. However, this change is limited to software. In 2025, “AI slop” moved into the physical world through a series of AI-focused hardware releases that often failed to live up to the hype.
In this regard, Nielsen Norman Group's vice president of research and content said there is immense pressure to act on behalf of shareholders.
The result can be a technology-driven design where the process starts with tools rather than needs. Rather than solving an existing problem, developers start with an AI solution and work backwards to find problems they can potentially solve.
What AI brings in the long run
AI slop has taken the internet by storm, with many sites including Pinterest and YouTube introducing features that allow users to limit the AI-generated content they see.
These filters require less user interaction and feature more actionable AI tools, significantly improving the online user experience.
This change means that the “slop era'' is not simply a matter of the amount of content, but represents a fundamental change in the values of the Internet itself.
