Experts Comment: Is the Internet Being Polluted By AI Slop?

Gina Marrs

10 hours ago

The internet, once hailed as a digital utopia of human creativity, collaboration and curiosity at its inception is now showing signs of strain, and some say it’s being choked by a rising tide of low-quality, machine-generated content. From bizarre product reviews to SEO-stuffed blog posts and eerily generic travel guides, critics argue that the web is becoming harder to navigate, less trustworthy and frankly, a whole lot more boring.

Immediately, fingers are being pointed at the mass deployment of generative AI tools that can churn out articles, images and even videos faster than you can say “algorithm.” In a way, the blame is being shifted to technology. Technology that was developed by humans, of course, but technology nonetheless.

But, is it all doom and digital decay? Not everyone agrees. Supporters of AI content argue that these tools democratise creativity, power small businesses and fill content gaps with speed and efficiency. After all, not every product description or user manual needs to be a literary masterpiece!

However, the other side of the coin is that this is going too far, and by “over-democratising” access to to digital content, we’re actually ending up in a position in which the overall quality of content on the internet has decreased dramatically.

What Exactly Is AI Slop, and Why Would It Be a Problem If It Took Over the Internet?

“AI slop” is the nickname critics have given to the growing wave of bland, repetitive and often misleading content churned out by generative AI tools. It’s a reference to things like generic blog posts that all sound the same, product reviews that don’t say much or AI-generated news stories with no clear source or substance. It’s not that all AI content is bad – far from it, in fact. But the problem is, when it’s pumped out at scale with little oversight or originality, things can start to feel a bit…sloppy.

The term is a direct reference to the “slop” that’s fed to pigs – scraps of food that create a kind of semi-liquid mush of food for farm animals that’ll eat exactly anything and everything. The use of the term “slop” with regard to AI is really asserting that some of this AI content is just a big mish-mash of low-quality content with little to no value. So, does that make us, consumers of the internet, the pigs? Well, maybe, put perhaps that’s diving too deep into the metaphor.

The real concern is what this flood of mediocre content might do to the internet as a whole. If search results are clogged with AI-written filler, it gets harder to find accurate information. Smaller creators may struggle to compete with the speed and volume of machine-made material. There’s also the risk of trust erosion – when you can’t tell if a photo, article or review is genuine, how can you rely on it?

At its worst, AI slop could turn the web into a noisy, soulless place where quality and nuance get drowned out by algorithms optimised for clicks. That’s not just annoying, it’s actually a very real threat to how we share knowledge, make decisions and stay informed.

We wanted to hear the opinions of experts in various fields, all of whom have an intimate knowledge and understanding of the internet and digital content. We asked them what they think of the idea of AI slop polluting the internet, whether or not it’s a big problem that we should be concerned about it and what we could potentially do to prevent this from getting worse or mitigate the problem even slightly.

Here’s what they said.

Meet the Experts

Dan Chorlton: Founder of GOA Marketing
Jo Sutherland: Managing Director at Magenta and AI Ethicist
Ben Johnson: CEO of BML
Siobhan Byrne: Co-Founder and SEO Content Director at Bonded
Charlotte Stoel: Group Managing Director of Firefly Communications
Mike King: CEO and Founder at iPullRank
David Weinstein: Co-Founder and CEO at KayOS
Chris Beer: Senior Data Journalist at GWI
Matthew Robinson: Senior PR and SEO Strategist at Definition
Nicola Hughes: Head of SEO Strategy at TAL Agency
Isabel Villadolid: Lead Creative Strategist at Brave Bison
Joshua Allsopp: Digital Content Strategist at INFINITE

Dan Chorlton, Founder of GOA Marketing

“We’re not just dealing with a wave of AI content – we’re dealing with a shift in trust. If everything could be AI, how do consumers know what (or who) to believe? That changes how people connect with products, creators, and brands.

For creators, it’s even tougher. There’s a real sense of “I have to say I made this” just to be taken seriously. If the default assumption is that everything’s machine-made, where’s the motivation to be original? Creativity loses its meaning.

For brands, of course use AI to speed things up but don’t lose the voice, the story, the spark. Real wins come from clarity, personality, and purpose. People will always choose what feels real.”

Jo Sutherland, Managing Director at Magenta and AI Ethicist

“Yes, AI slop is a real problem. The internet is being flooded with low-effort, AI-generated content. Search results are worse, publishers are losing traffic, and social media is noisier than ever. And let’s be honest, most of it is boring.

This isn’t just about oversaturation or poor quality. It’s about the slow erosion of originality and creativity. Everyone thinks they can write now. They can’t.

The internet’s already creaking under the weight of algorithmic noise – content with no real insight, just bland repetition and robotic phrasing. It’s all a bit… nothingy.

And then there’s the deeper and darker issue. As AI-generated images and videos become harder to distinguish from the real thing, we face the “liar’s dividend” – a world where even genuine content is dismissed as fake. If we’re not careful, we’ll end up with bots shouting into a void, while the rest of us tune out entirely.

As communicators, we have a duty of care to call out lazy, derivative, or just plain irritating uses of AI. We need to protect the craft of storytelling and stop outsourcing creativity to models that rehash other people’s words, almost always without credit or renumeration.

AI can be an incredible tool. But not if we let it swamp the ecosystems we depend on for information and connection. We need better training. Not just prompt writing tips, but genuine AI literacy.”

Ben Johnson, CEO of BML

“As AI gets better at faking it, trust becomes the ultimate currency. We’re learning to spot the difference between a message crafted by a machine and one that comes from a real person. We’re seeking out brands that show their human side, imperfections and all.

Maybe the future of marketing isn’t more data, more automation, or more “personalisation.” Maybe it’s about being brave enough to be real. Maybe it’s about showing up, face-to-face, pen-to-paper, heart-to-heart.

The Takeaway

So, as the AI slop keeps rising, maybe the smartest move isn’t to shout louder, or more and more frequently. Maybe it’s to step away from the noise, look someone in the eye, and say something real. In a world obsessed with artificial intelligence, authenticity might just be the most disruptive force of all.”

Siobhan Byrne, Co-Founder and SEO Content Director at Bonded

“The internet being polluted by AI slop is a problem we are facing now and will only get worse in the future. The abundant text and visual-based models that are out there suck up vast amounts of pre-existing content to train their models, and stark biases exist within content online today. Using AI-powered tools to churn out content based on what already exists on the internet will perpetuate these biases at scale, with little to no care for fact-checking and truth. We will reach a point where models are trained on more ai-generated content than original content, which can lead to model collapse.

Content publishers should be transparent about their content production processes, be clear on the sources they are citing and undertake thorough fact-checking with trusted sources and experts before launching into hyper-processed content creation, which AI so temptingly plates up for us, with a few easy prompts.”

Charlotte Stoel, Group Managing Director of Firefly Communications

“When AI eats itself, the truth needs a lifeline. And that’s the credibility that journalism and media bring.

The media is in crisis, not just from restructuring or cuts, but from the quiet rise of AI-generated content with no guardrails. We’re already seeing content written by machines, full of fake quotes and phantom sources, passing as fact. When generative AI learns from its own flawed outputs, we enter a feedback loop of misinformation. Truth gets erodes and a company’s reputations can warp beyond recognition.

If you care how your company appears online, you must care about the quality of content behind the scenes. We need journalism, we need media, we need humans behind the content that gets puts out there. In an age of synthetic stories, it’s our last line of defence for trust, context and accountability.”

Mike King, CEO and Founder at iPullRank

“The internet is absolutely being flooded with AI slop and it’s not just a glitch, it’s a strategy. OpenAI attacks Google on two fronts: first, by redefining how people satisfy information needs through conversational AI, and second, by polluting Google’s index at scale with synthetic content that degrades the quality of traditional search results. It’s a full-on relevance war.

The problem isn’t just bad content, it’s the collapse of trust in what’s real. If we don’t intervene, we’re looking at an internet that’s less useful, less human, and dangerously manipulated. The solution isn’t banning AI; it’s investing in systems that reward originality, penalize manipulation, and surface genuinely helpful information. Platforms must take accountability for their role in this ecosystem and we as creators must raise the bar. Otherwise, we’re all just training data for the next wave of noise.”

David Weinstein, Co-Founder and CEO at KayOS

Is this a big problem we’re facing?

Yes – but not just because it makes Google worse. What we’re seeing is the early stage of a much deeper cognitive shift. Generative AI has made it effortless to flood platforms with synthetic content that mimics human language but lacks meaning or intent.

The scale is staggering: between 2021 and 2024, fake AI answers on Quora rose 258 percent; AI-generated Temu reviews jumped 1,361 percent between 2020 and 2024; and over 40 percent of Facebook posts are now estimated to be AI generated. This isn’t just more noise – it’s content detached from source, purpose and memory.

We’re not building a smarter web, we’re building a synthetic one. And when this becomes the dominant input for search engines and AI training data, the whole system starts to collapse in on itself. It’s not growth – it’s recursive degradation.”

Should we be concerned?

“Deeply. When human thought is shaped by low-quality signals, it reshapes how we reason. We absorb hollow patterns – summaries of summaries, reflections of reflections – and lose the ability to distinguish real insight from empty form. French philosopher Jean Baudrillard called this hyperreality: when representations no longer reflect reality but only each other. That’s what AI slop is – content that mimics meaning while severing it from truth.

This erosion of meaning also echoes Iain McGilchrist’s work on the brain’s hemispheres. He warns of a cultural drift toward abstraction and manipulation (left-brain dominance), at the expense of embodied understanding and context (right-brain thinking). Unchecked generative AI accelerates this shift.

Together, these ideas suggest we’re not just polluting the internet – we’re distorting the way people think. If the content we consume becomes synthetic, recursive, and unmoored, our cognition risks becoming the same: fast, shallow, and disconnected from reality.”

What are the future implications of the internet being overwhelmed with AI slop?

“We’re entering a dangerous recursive loop: AI-generated content floods the internet and newer AI models are trained on that same content. Over time, this leads to a compounding degradation in quality and coherence. Each cycle makes the internet less trustworthy and the models less grounded in reality. This isn’t just a data problem – it’s an epistemic one.

The web starts to resemble a hall of mirrors where information reflects itself without ever touching a source. It echoes the Dead Internet Theory – the idea that much of the internet is already synthetic, maintained by bots and automated systems with little genuine human input.

The result is a decline in content that informs, challenges or teaches. Instead, we get text that mimics structure but lacks substance. Eventually, this could erode digital knowledge, AI performance and public trust altogether.

What can we do to mitigate the negative effects?
There are two fronts to tackling this problem: design and detection. First, we need better systems for identifying content that is derivative, incoherent or purely synthetic. But more importantly, we need to rethink how we build AI from the ground up.

At KayOS, we focus on agent-based systems that are grounded in structured, contextual memory. Our agents don’t just generate content – they reason with you, learn from feedback and evolve alongside your operations. We use a purpose-built ontology to anchor meaning and ensure that outputs are tied to real goals, not just plausible strings of text.

This kind of infrastructure is critical if we want AI to support sense-making, not short-circuit it. The goal isn’t faster content generation. It’s intelligence that compounds over time, stays aligned with context and helps humans think better, not simply outsource the thinking altogether.”

Chris Beer, Senior Data Journalist at GWI

Is AI slop polluting the internet a big problem we’re facing?

“AI slop’ is a real risk, but only when convenience and speed are prioritised over creativity.

“As GWI’s data shows, on average, nearly half (44%) of social media users don’t mind AI-generated content. That suggests that people aren’t inherently anti-AI, and what matters more is whether the content feels relevant and thoughtful.

“AI crosses over into ‘slop’ when it’s used to churn out generic, impersonal content. But when used intelligently, to test ideas or tailor content for a specific platform, it can actually fuel stronger creative work.”

Should we be concerned?

“From a brand perspective, the real concern for brands isn’t whether to use AI, but how. Those who use it with purpose and with their audience in mind are far more likely to succeed. The moment it becomes a shortcut for quantity over quality, you risk falling into the trap of ‘AI slop’.

What can we do to mitigate the negative effects of this?

“Brands can stay ahead of the curve by tailoring content to the platform at hand. For example, Maybelline’s mascara CGI video was a viral TikTok sensation, but the same concept on X might have flopped. If you manage to jump on an AI-generated trend before it passes by, you could hit the jackpot.

“With shrinking teams and tighter timelines, knowing where AI content will land well, and where it won’t, helps teams prioritise better. AI can absolutely support creativity, but it has to serve the audience first, not just the algorithm. Be smart, yet creative with it, and you’ll stay ahead of the game and avoid falling into the AI slop trap.”

Matthew Robinson, Senior PR and SEO Strategist at Definition

“The rise of low-quality, mass-generated AI content is a growing concern, especially for marketing and PR teams. While AI can be a useful tool for efficiency, we’re seeing quantity outpace quality across much of the internet. This flood of generic content risks burying valuable, experience-led insights and could erode trust in search results. Over time, the credibility and usefulness of online information may decline if this trend continues.

There is a real danger in letting AI define narratives without human oversight, especially when it comes to brand messaging and thought leadership. To counter this, we need to double down on content grounded in EEAT principles: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Strong editorial standards and human oversight are key. AI should enhance content creation, not replace critical thinking, originality, or firsthand knowledge. The future of the internet relies on creators using AI responsibly and keeping quality front and center.”

Nicola Hughes, Head of SEO Strategy at TAL Agency

“The internet being ‘polluted’ by AI slop could escalate into a big problem if not monitored and managed appropriately. Mass-produced, low-quality content is no stranger to the internet, and generative AI is scanning all content extremely quickly for real-time results. While AI can be a fantastic tool to quickly obtain information, and proves very effective when used correctly, it’s important to know that it’s still merely a tool – it needs professional oversight, and it’s a nuanced conversation.

All information on the internet must be regulated appropriately, and AI is no exception. AI slop can be very harmful, academics like Wachter have coined AI Slop as ‘careless speech’ where the data AI is pulling is essentially spam – inaccurate, overly simplified, and biased responses. What we need from AI is the opposite of this, we want objective and factual information, and high-quality content from AI otherwise we risk falling victim to falsified information and the internet being flooded with AI slop.

We should be concerned, to an extent, because the internet being polluted by AI slop could be very detrimental to the validity of information. Not monitoring AI-generated information encourages the circulation of misinformation, and as AI-generated content continues to see exponential growth, these risks will undoubtedly correlate with that acceleration. We also have to consider the ethical implications of AI slop in that the publication of material that has not been audited by a human could reproduce bias, offensive language, and infringe copyright laws. As well as providing a poor user experience if information is classed as AI slop, it can also damage brand reputation, and erode trust and credibility as sources pulled can be unoriginal, lacking in accuracy, and lacking that humanised nuance. We should always be concerned about the acceleration of technological advancement, and stay mindful and informed of the risks around the digital era.

It’s important to be informed of the implications of AI, and be proactive, both as operators and users of AI, to balance efficiency with integrity. It’s important to mitigate the negative effects of AI slop by continuously auditing and monitoring the systems, and also being mindful of how we use AI – ensuring it’s not our first and only port of call, and ensuring it’s used solely as a tool, not a dependent. As an AI-user, you can certainly self-audit these systems. As you would with any information circulating the internet, you should be aware that research is not gospel, and you should look for those original, validated pieces of information that have real human expertise. AI literacy is important for mitigating the negative effects of AI spam. Equally, operators and coordinators of AI systems must take this proactive approach of auditing systems, establishing clear use policies, and continuously evaluating the platforms offered.”

Isabel Villadolid, Lead Creative Strategist at Brave Bison

“AI slop might flood the internet with fast, cookie-cutter content, but for performance marketers, it’s not a threat. It’s a call to sharpen our edge. While some brands may lean on AI to churn out quick ads, the real winners will be the ones who think smarter, not just faster. Performance comes from clarity: laser-focused objectives, a deep understanding of your brand and audience, a mapped customer journey, and precise insight into purchase triggers. Then comes the clincher – closing the loop with ruthless performance analysis.

Without this, AI is just noise. And in a noisy world, data-backed, strategic creative cuts through. AI can speed up the process, but it can’t replicate strategic craft. To stay ahead, we need to double down on strategic insight, test relentlessly, learn fast. The future belongs to brands that blend AI’s efficiency with real human insight and data-backed creatives.”

Joshua Allsopp, Digital Content Strategist at INFINITE

“In the dark corners of the web, you’ll find something called the Dead Internet Theory. For years, so the conspiracy goes, vast swathes of the online world have been replaced with artificially generated content at the expense of human users. It might sound crazy, but the stats reveal a truth stranger than fiction. Almost half of all web traffic is now due to non-human activity, and something like 10-15% of all social media accounts are actually bots. In 2022, barely 2% of social content was AI-generated, but by next yea,r it is set to be half… and these are conservative estimates.

Organic content (in both senses) is already at the mercy of social media platforms and their relentlessly revenue-oriented algorithms, meaning the old engagement models just aren’t working. The saving grace, however, is that users are also becoming much more discerning about the content they choose to consume. Essentially, we’re getting better and better at sifting out the good stuff.

It’s tempting to lament the death of the internet, but really, we’re on the cusp of a golden age of content creation. AI is enabling things we didn’t think possible and breathes new life into tired old models. AI slop is just AI used poorly. If businesses and content creators want to stand out amidst this growing sea of trash, they need to get better at using these new tools. Ultimately, engaging, original, emotive and (importantly) human content will always prevail when your audience is human too.”