Happy Monday, y’all 👋.

Internet culture reached a breaking point this year as AI reshaped how content is produced, distributed, and consumed.

Merriam-Webster named “slop” the word of the year for 2025, elevating a term that now defines the flood of low-quality AI-generated content saturating feeds, videos, and search results.

The choice makes clear how audiences, creators, and even dictionaries are wrestling with the unintended consequences of automated scale.

Let’s get into it.

Driving the news: Merriam-Webster announced that its 2025 Word of the Year is “slop,” defined in its current usage as “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.” The selection reflects not only lookup data but also a cultural moment where audiences and language itself are responding to an influx of absurd videos, fake news, junky AI-written books, and uncanny advertising images that have proliferated across digital platforms this year. Merriam-Webster’s president emphasized that the term now captures both annoyance and mockery at the state of automated content creation.

• The evolution of the term is striking: first used in the 1700s to mean “soft mud,” then as waste or rubbish, and now as shorthand for an internet clogged with repetitive, low-value AI output. Its rise into everyday conversation mirrors how users have struggled to articulate what feels broken about modern digital environments.

The stakes: The acceptance of “slop” into mainstream language signals a broader credibility challenge for platforms and creators operating in an AI era. When low-quality outputs become the norm, audiences grow skeptical, engagement patterns shift, and the value of intentional, human-centered creation is highlighted. Dictionary watchers and cultural critics alike see this linguistic choice as a rebuke of mindless scale and a call to reclaim quality over quantity.

• For operators and advertisers, the slop phenomenon challenges traditional engagement strategies. Reliance on algorithmic optimization without context now risks aligning brands with noise rather than value, undercutting trust and long-term audience loyalty.

The friction: The very tools that democratize creation also fuel the problem. Generative AI accelerates output faster than platforms and users can filter or contextualize it. There is no consensus on how to measure quality or what standards should govern distribution. Platforms benefit from volume, while users recoil at repetition and artificiality. This unresolved tension slows meaningful progress toward better content ecosystems and leaves trust in digital media unsettled.

Where this leads: The institutional validation of “slop” formalizes a cultural divide between abundance and worth. Once a dictionary names the problem, audiences gain permission to disengage, ignore, or actively resist low quality content at scale.

• This shifts pressure onto platforms to defend not just safety or legality, but taste. Distribution systems built to reward output now face scrutiny for what they normalize and elevate.

• Creators operating at the margins of automation may find renewed leverage, but only if they can signal intention and authorship clearly. Meanwhile, content factories optimized for volume risk accelerating audience fatigue.

• The result is a recalibration of value in the attention economy. In a world where anyone can generate infinite content, the differentiator becomes what is withheld, edited, or deliberately not produced.

The bigger picture: Slop’s coronation as ‘Word of the Year’ reflects a larger cultural reckoning with the costs of automated abundance. It highlights a shift in how society judges value in the attention economy — not just by what is produced, but by what is worth consuming. As AI grows more ubiquitous, the premium on meaning, judgment, and authenticity sharpens. Slop doesn’t just name a phenomenon; it encapsulates a turning point in how language and culture respond to technology’s reach.

For everything else, see below 👇:

AI

1. CEOs To Keep Spending On AI Despite Spotty Returns
   Executives say they plan to continue investing heavily in artificial intelligence even as measurable returns remain inconsistent — (Ben Glickman for The Wall Street Journal) — Link

2. Disney’s OpenAI Deal Is Exclusive For Just One Year Then It’s Open Season
   Disney’s agreement with OpenAI gives the studio early access to AI tooling but only for a limited window before competitors can step in — (Aisha Malik for TechCrunch) — Link

Platforms

3. YouTube Looks To Streamline Sponsored Content Partnerships
   YouTube is rolling out new tools aimed at making it easier for creators and brands to manage paid partnerships — (Andrew Hutchinson for Social Media Today) — Link

4. Netflix Responds To Concerns About WBD Deal
   Netflix pushes back on criticism surrounding its licensing deal with Warner Bros Discovery as industry tensions rise — (Lauren Forristal for TechCrunch) — Link

Retail

5. Kohl’s Cash Has Become A Holiday Shopping Obsession
   Kohl’s long running rewards program continues to shape consumer behavior during the holiday season — (Suzanne Kapner for The Wall Street Journal) — Link

6. Consumer Spending Growth Expected To Slow In 2026
   Rising prices and economic uncertainty are expected to weigh on consumer spending growth next year — (Dani James for Retail Dive) — Link

Entertainment

7. Zootopia 2 Becomes The Highest Grossing Movie Of 2025
   Disney’s animated sequel has surged past competitors to lead the global box office this year — (Rebecca Rubin for Variety) — Link

8. Red Bull Creates First Official Playable Tetris Game In The Sky
   Red Bull staged a massive live spectacle by turning drones into a playable version of Tetris — (Famous Campaigns Staff for Famous Campaigns) — Link

Social

9. TikTok Is Rebranding Ice Hockey Rinks As ‘Boy Aquariums’
   On TikTok, ice hockey arenas are being humorously relabeled as “boy aquariums” as female fans flood the stands and memes spread across the platform — (Eve Upton-Clark for Fast Company) — Link

Design

10. Canva’s 2026 Design Trends Report Highlights Shift Toward Imperfect By Design
    Canva’s latest trends report points to a growing embrace of raw, human, and imperfect aesthetics — (Canva) — Link

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