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Why Slop Matters

arxiv.org · 3,301 words · saved by 2 readers

Cody Kommers ckommers@turing.ac.uk 0009-0007-8985-0085 The Alan Turing InstituteLondonUK , Eamon Duede Purdue UniversityUSA , Julia Gordon Duke UniversityUSA , Ari Holtzman University of ChicagoUSA , Tess McNulty University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignUSA , Spencer Stewart Purdue UniversityUSA , Lindsay Thomas Cornell UniversityUSA , Richard Jean So richard.so@duke.edu Duke UniversityUSA and Hoyt Long hoytlong@chicago.edu University of ChicagoUSA (2025) AI-generated ”slop” is often seen as digital pollution. We argue that this dismissal of the topic risks missing important aspects of AI Slop that deserve rigorous study. AI Slop serves a social function: it offers a supply-side solution to a variety of problems in cultural and economic demand—that, collectively, people want more content than humans can supply. We also argue that AI Slop is not mere digital detritus but has its own aesthetic value. Like other ”low” cultural forms initially dismissed by critics, it nonetheless offers a le

Why Slop Matters Cody Kommers ckommers@turing.ac.uk 0009-0007-8985-0085 The Alan Turing Institute London UK , Eamon Duede Purdue University USA , Julia Gordon Duke University USA , Ari Holtzman University of Chicago USA , Tess McNulty University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign USA , Spencer Stewart Purdue University USA , Lindsay Thomas Cornell University USA , Richard Jean So richard.so@duke.edu Duke University USA and Hoyt Long hoytlong@chicago.edu University of Chicago USA (2025) Abstract. AI-generated ”slop” is often seen as digital pollution. We argue that this dismissal of the topic risks m

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