By Andy Chalk
Publication Date: 2026-01-02 20:41:00
Merriam-Webster’s word of the year for 2025 was “slop,” the catch-all term for machine-generated crapola—or, as Merriam-Webster defines it more prosaically (and politely), “low-quality digital content, typically produced in large quantities using artificial intelligence.” It’s hard to argue with the choice: As PC Gamer’s Lincoln Carpenter said, it was “a year of AI humiliation” that started with a stupid AI-generated Star Wars video and didn’t stop until the calendar ran out.
But while “slop” is undoubtedly an appropriate word for 2025, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says it’s time to stop talking about it, because we need to move on to bigger and more important things – like how to make that incredibly expensive and resource-sucking error generator that no one wants actually work.
