AI Slop

In this episode, we explore the phenomenon of AI slop - the flood of bland, over-polished, formulaic content generated by chatbots and their ilk - and ask how AI content has gone from cool, to naff, to actively despised. The conversation ranges from AI-generated writing and artwork. to clip art, stock photography, PowerPoint transitions and social media, asking whether technologies become naff simply because everyone can use them, or because democratisation genuinely lowers quality. Along the way, we examine how status, craftsmanship and scarcity shape our perceptions of value, and whether AI is simply following a path that other technologies have trammelled before. Links: Rogers' theory of innovation diffusion Ricardo Montalbán Pierre Bourdieu