“Creativity is suffocating, and the algorithms are holding the pillow “
When I look back at 2024, what did I see? A whole year of generative AI breakthroughs? A step closer to the singularity? Nah, I’m just kidding, because I will remember it for what it truly was: the year the world was swallowed whole by a tsunami of AI-generated SLOP.
Slop, my friends, it has slithered into every corner of our existence like a digital version of the black plague, and Big Tech are the rats that are spreading it. Social media has become a landfill of regurgitated mediocre content. And even journalism, that once was the pillar of truth and creativity is choked by SEO-optimized nonsense. Music, movies, and games, they all churn out crap with their soulless algorithms.
To me it has become quite indistinguishable from the microwave dinner I ate yesterday: technically edible but utterly lifeless, and totally void of taste (that is, if you can count salt as “taste”). Even the (once sacred) art of advertising has become a beige wasteland of generative garbage.
Hello Coca Cola!
I know, the decline did not start this year because algorithms have been eroding cultural standards for over a decade, but 2024 marked the grand debut of The Slop Era. Because ‘24 is the time when generative AI allowed every bored office drone to “create” something. And by create, I mean feed prompts into a machine that spits out crappy sludge with the depth of an influencers IQ.
More slop after the commercial brake:
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Welcome to the age of sludge
I think you heard it all before: “Generative AI democratizes creativity”!
Yeeeey!!
Yeah, no.
What it actually does is replace us hoomans with chatbots and deepfake artists who aren’t able to craft a single authentic thought, even if their lives depended on it.
This ain’t art.
This is soulless mimicry.
Hello ChatGPT
🦜
Raaaaa!
It’s a parody of creativity that is stripped of all the quirks, and flaws, and humanity that make art…..well, art.
And it is now everywhere.
You can’t open a browser without being smacked in the face by algorithmically generated headlines. And it’s not even me that have noticed it. Even research (yes, real research) says that more than half of the internet is AI-Generated: 57% of the internet is AI generated and causes model collapse . You can’t scroll a feed without tripping over content that has been stitched together by machines that are designed to maximize engagement, but not value.
This is called the dead internet theory.
The dead internet theory (aka the “zombie internet”) was kind of a conspiracy theory back in the day. It stated that the lively and human driven chaos of things like forums, blogs and weird P*rnH*b niche sites are actually generated by bots. “(Ab)users” like you, that post something get comments from some soulless code which is only there to pump up metrics and keeping you hooked.
Except now it is not a theory, because it’s our daily reality.
AI is writing for AI to read.
And us humans are sittings on the sidelines, scrolling through sludge.
Recognize it?
Thought you would, my intelligent friend.
http://www.corporate-wet-dream.com
(up for sale, btw)
And who do we have to thank for this descent into mediocrity? Of course, them greedy executives (do I even need to mention them all?) that are salivating over the idea of “more output, and fewer humans”.
Hi Amazon !
Hello Google!
Ciao Klarna!
Krijg de t**** X!
Why pay a writer, or a designer, a musician, or an artist when you can fire them all and let AI crank out the same tired garbage for pennies?
Vincent Koopmans? What do you have to say about that as a true artist?
That’s why I started the #BanFigma campaign a half year ago.
And this is also why Hollywood’s writers and actors were protesting in the streets, and CEOs were sipping their oat-milk lattes, and were dreaming of AI-generated blockbusters.
Guess what, that “dream” is already here.
Entirely AI-generated movies, songs, books, they’re coming faster than you Tesla in FSD mode heading toward a crowd.
And you thought Sora was cool. Just download Genesis and give it a shot. Let’s add more snot to the already spilling bucket of goo, why don’t you.
And Genesis, though quite cool, is not churning out groundbreaking works of art, either. I am talking about content that it is so empty, that it makes a black hole seem hospitable. And people (not you, I know you !) are eating it up like starving rats in a garbage dump.
General Tim B. Lee recently said in an interview, that he “failed the internet”.
He was referring to what we collectively have done with it.
We have assaulted his original – utopian – idea of connection, collaboration, and equality. He wanted to create a universal platform where knowledge and ideas could flow freely across borders. It would give power to people who would break down the barriers between themselves and the institutions. It was a tool that was designed for the greater good of humanity.
And now…
The web is a corrupted place which is centralized under a few tech giants, us users have become a commodity, and its “openness” is diluted by paywalls, algorithms, and surveillance capitalism. Berners-Lee called it a “dystopian nightmare” himself.
Maybe his lates project, his “Solid Project”, could have us return to its original purpose: control of data to individuals: Home – Solid
Your choice: revolution or more sloppy slop
So, what is next on you agenda?
You know that it’s up to us, the “consumer cattle”.
Right?
So, we have two choices:
- Either embrace the slop: Keep clicking, licking, sniffing, engaging, and keep validating the corporate dream of a sludge-filled dystopian nightmare.
- Or push back: Refuse to consume algorithmic diarrhea. Demand authenticity. Cancel subscriptions. Rage-quit platforms that shovel slop into our lives like it’s foie gras (Bye LinkedIn!, Bye Facebook, Bye Bye just about everything these days).
But let’s be real.
How many of us will actually start to fight back?
I know a few who will and even fewer who are doing it as I speak.
We have already shown that we are willing to tolerate ads on subscription platforms, that even government organizations are allowed to just steal our personal data, and those same governments have been using AI to push people over the edge and get them to commit suicide: A European train wreck with AI in the driver’s seat. And now, slop will enter your life through your AI | VR glasses (though cool), because why would this be any different?
The slopocalypse waits for no one
Peeps, make no mistake: this is not a phase that we are collectively going through. The Slop Era has become the new normal.
We are now living in a world where creativity is outsourced to chatbots, and we are left with the endless, soulless noise that is coming out of it’s collective butthole.
It’s a world where art, culture, and humanity itself is diluted to the point where it has become irrelevant.
But hey, maybe that’s what we deserve.
After all, we’re the ones who let it happen.
Signing off from the depths of the slop swamp,
Marco
P.S. Enjoy the sludge-filled New Year. Don’t forget to tag me in your AI-generated resolutions.
Well, that’s a wrap for today. Tomorrow, I’ll have a fresh episode of TechTonic Shifts for you. If you enjoy my writing and want to support my work, feel free to buy me a coffee ♨️
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