What? Slop??

The Economist & Merriam-Webster have named “slop” as The Word Of The Year for 2025.

Rationale

• Slop is not a tech term.
• It’s not a TED Talk buzzword.
• It’s what pigs eat.
• In 2025, slop is not just what’s in the trough – it’s what’s in your inbox, your search results, your brain.
• According to Times Of India, “it’s the word we didn’t know we needed to describe what the digital world has become: a lukewarm stew of AI-generated mush served up by machines that never sleep and people who’ve stopped caring.”
• It feels like chewing cardboard — tasteless, textureless, and suspiciously repetitive.

Laughable examples, sort of

• Read LinkedIn posts – they’re full of AI-crafted guru wisdom like, “Sometimes leadership means following your own silence.”
• Search Google results – you might read that “turmeric can cure heartbreak.”
• Ask a health question – you will get a “600-word hallucination wearing a lab coat.”

Why this matters to you

► Know this:

“Slop” earned its way to being The Word of the Year “because it’s also the product, the business model, the culture.”

► Do this:

There is a silver lining. As leaders you need to spot the slop. You need to communicate what’s credible – verified, human-created, high-quality content!

► Now what?

Slop is scalable. Its genius is that it masquerades as info and insight in the form of captions, reels, videos, post threads, summaries, newsletters (not this one!), a pitch deck and more. Your challenge is to discern the slop and communicate above the slop.

Photo copyright: RF123

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/why-the-economists-word-of-the-year-slop-is-the-perfect-choice-for-2025/articleshow/125813777.cms