'AI slop' crowned word of the year 2025 in Macquarie Dictionary's committee and people's choice categories
Macquarie's committee says AI-generated slop lacks meaningful context. (Reuters: Dado Ruvic/Illustration)
In short:
'AI slop' has been named Macquarie Dictionary's word of the year for 2025.
The word refers to low-quality content created by generative AI which often contains errors and is not requested by the user.
A technology innovation expert says AI slop is "making its way upstream into people’s media diets".
Macquarie Dictionary has announced 'AI slop' has been chosen by its committee and voted by the public as the word of the year for 2025.
AI slop refers to low-quality content created by generative AI which often contains errors and is not requested by the user, according to Macquarie.
AI slop has been crowned Macquarie Dictionary's word of the year 2025. (Supplied: Macquarie Dictionary)
"We understand now in 2025 what we mean by slop, AI generated slop, which lacks meaningful content or use," Macquarie's committee said.
Macquarie said for a second year running, the public had aligned with the committee.
"While in recent years we've learnt to become search engineers to find meaningful information, we now need to become prompt engineers in order to wade through the AI slop," the committee said.
"Slop in this sense will be a robust addition to English for years to come.
"The question is, are the people ingesting and regurgitating this content soon to be called AI sloppers?"
Other words, including clanker, medical misogyny and attention economy, have been shortlisted.
Last week, the Cambridge Dictionary named parasocial — one of several AI-related words — as its word ot the year for 2025.
Cambridge University Press & Assessment, the publisher of the Cambridge Dictionary, said the year was marked by interest in the one-sided parasocial relationships people form with celebrities, influencers and AI chatbots.
"Parasocial is the perfect word of the year," said Simone Schnall, a professor of experimental social psychology at the University of Cambridge.
"The rise of parasocial relationships has redefined fandom, celebrity and, with AI, how ordinary people interact online.
"We've entered an age where many people form unhealthy and intense parasocial relationships with influencers."
How AI slop affects us
Adam Nemeroff, the Assistant Provost for Innovations in Learning, Teaching, and Technology at Quinnipiac University, said AI slop was "making its way upstream into people's media diets".
"During Hurricane Helene, opponents of president Joe Biden cited AI-generated images of a displaced child clutching a puppy as evidence of the administration's purported mishandling of the disaster response," he wrote in an article published on The Conversation, adding that AI slop "can be used to spread misinformation".
Mr Nemeroff said AI slop also caused job losses by crowding out content made by real creators.
"The placement of this lower-quality AI-generated content is often not distinguished by the algorithms that drive social media consumption," he said.
"And it displaces entire classes of creators who previously made their livelihood from online content."