Opinion | When the Internet Cooks, It Serves Slop

Something happened to me: After Russia invaded Ukraine almost four years ago, I did a podcast. “I think it would be remiss of me not to devote an episode of ‘Lexicon Valley’ to the Ukrainian language.” But much to my surprise, all of a sudden, I noticed that getting around was that same podcast, but eaten up and then regurgitated by A.I. into one of the most peculiar articles I’ve ever read. This is my introduction to A.I. slop being applied to me. I’m John McWhorter and I’m obsessed with words. Well, although frankly, not really. I’m a linguist and I’m obsessed with sentences. But let’s face it, it can be harder to care about sentences on a day-to-day level. So let’s talk about some words. The American Dialect Society just anointed “slop” the word of the year for 2025. It comes from an ancestral word, and the word was roughly “sleubh” that meant more or less stuff that you slip in. In English we have A.I. slop. The ancients, who spoke Old English, they had cow slop. You know there’s a flower called the cowslip? And if you think about it, why would anybody name it that? It’s not about lips. It’s cow slop. That’s what it originally was. It meant stuff that you slosh around in often… dung. And that was because the flower is often found growing amidst, if I may, manure. Slop has a liquid and even repulsive component. It’s an almost recreationally dismissive and denigrating term, and it reflects how in 2025, the downsides of A.I. have become especially clear. “This is not a tool that is revolutionizing learning. This is a nightmare that is destroying learning.” “Sexualized and topless images of children have also been discovered.” “I lost my job to A.I. two years ago.” So it’s basically this powerful but faceless mechanism and it has us wading through fake news. “Just kidding. I’m not real.” “Just kidding. I’m not real.” Animal videos with capybaras dancing. People being undressed online. “A bunch of men asking Grok to take off her clothes.” Basically, A.I. has become kind of like Stitch. Stitch is a nuisance. A.I. is Stitch. Yes, it can be useful. But in many ways, now notice it’s not mysterious and novel. It’s just this nuisance that gums up the works of our lives. Or it’s kind of like the slime the hagfish explodes. That slime reminds me of what A.I. often is these days. And what it did to my podcast. So in an alternate universe it would be “A.I. slime,” but for us, slop.