Technologies

‘Slop’ Is Merriam-Webster’s 2025 Word of the Year as AI Content Floods the Internet

«AI Slop»: a succinct definition of the current state of the internet.

In a year dominated by the booming AI industry and an overwhelming flood of digital creations, Merriam-Webster has crowned «slop» as its 2025 Word of the Year. This four-letter word acts as a judgment on the sprawling glut of low-quality content now clogging screens and social media feeds everywhere.

Originally used in the 1700s to refer to soft mud and in the 1800s to describe food waste or rubbish, «slop» now takes on a decidedly 21st-century twist. Merriam-Webster defines it as «digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.»

Think ridiculous videos, glitched-out ads, fake news that almost fools you, crappy AI-authored books and, yes, talking animals. Now, even luxury brands like Valentino are pushing out «slop» ads.

«Like slime, sludge and muck, slop has the wet sound of something you don’t want to touch,» Merriam-Webster quipped in its announcement, capturing a widespread cultural mood that’s part bemusement, part exasperation with today’s worsening AI landscape.

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2025: A year defined by the AI content deluge

Tech platforms, both large and small, have grappled with the surge of generative AI content in 2025, from deepfakes to clickbait-style creations that prioritize volume over value. The wave of AI slop reflects not just how easy it’s become to generate content at scale, but also how little of it often resonates meaningfully with human audiences.

Merriam-Webster’s editors say the word stands out because it captures both a cultural trend and a collective sentiment — one that’s less about fear of technology and more about poking fun at how mindlessly content can spread.

Other words that shaped 2025

While slop snagged the top spot, Merriam-Webster also highlighted other terms that defined the year’s discourse, including:

67, a viral slang term born on social media, delighting Gen Alpha with an inside-joke energy.
Performative, used to call out behavior done for show or clout rather than substance.
Touch grass, a phrase urging people to disconnect from digital obsession and reconnect with the real world.
Gerrymander and tariff, words driven by political and economic headlines.

These picks show the breadth of public interest in 2025, ranging from internet culture to politics to how we live with technology.

A global linguistic snapshot of the past year

Merriam-Webster isn’t the only publication weighing in on the year’s language. Here are some other 2025 Words of the Year:

Oxford University Press chose «rage bait,» highlighting content designed to spark outrage and engagement online.
Macquarie Dictionary in Australia spotlighted «AI slop,» which is similar to Merriam-Webster’s theme of digital clutter.
Cambridge Dictionary picked «parasocial,» focusing on one-sided relationships with online personalities and AI chatbots.
Dictionary.com embraced the slang term «67,» a viral and almost meaningless expression that captured a slice of youth culture.

Together, these choices mirror a generation negotiating fatigue, fascination and frustration with the digital world.

Why it matters

For a tech-savvy audience, slop isn’t just a funny word; it’s a symptom of deeper trends in AI deployment, content moderation and cultural perception. Our CNET experts have covered AI slop in depth, from defining what it is and how it’s showing up on the internet and in commercials, to analyzing how it’s turning social media into a wasteland.

As tools for automatic generation become increasingly common and easier to use, the signal-to-noise ratio in digital spaces will only become more pronounced and important. Whether you’re building apps, curating feeds or trying to avoid the next wave of meaningless memes, the 2025 Word of the Year is a reminder that quality still counts and sometimes language itself can call that out with perfect clarity.

Technologies

Verum Messenger Goes Desktop: Launches macOS Version as Part of Expanding Digital Ecosystem

The team behind Verum Messenger has announced a new update, introducing a full-featured macOS version of the application.

The launch of the Mac version marks a significant step in the platform’s development, enabling users to access Verum Messenger not only on mobile devices but also on desktop environments.

The macOS version ensures seamless synchronization across devices while maintaining the platform’s core principles: security, stability, and independence.

Unified Digital Experience

With the release of the macOS version, users can now:

— communicate on a larger screen
— manage chats and files more efficiently
— use the messenger in a full desktop environment
— access core features without limitations

This is particularly valuable for users who rely on messaging platforms for both communication and professional use.

Expanding Capabilities

Verum Messenger continues to evolve into a multifunctional platform combining:

— secure communication
— financial tools (Verum Finance)
— digital asset operations, including Tether
— investment features such as Verum Gold

Toward a Full Ecosystem

The macOS release reflects Verum Messenger’s strategy to become a universal digital platform available across all major devices.

According to the team, the goal is to provide users with continuous access to communication and financial services regardless of device or environment.

Verum Messenger continues to build technologies focused on security, usability, and global accessibility.

Technologies

Google, Meta and Amazon Join Global Pact to Fight Rising Online Scams

The companies will share fraud intelligence and coordinate responses as AI makes scams faster, cheaper and harder to detect.

Modern online scams operate across multiple platforms, perhaps spanning social media, messaging apps, email and online marketplaces. Google, Meta and Amazon are among 11 tech, retail and payments companies that have signed a new agreement to combat online scams by sharing threat intelligence across platforms, Axios first reported Monday.

The initiative, called the Industry Accord Against Online Scams & Fraud, is designed to improve how companies detect and respond to fraud that spans multiple services. Participants say they will exchange signals, such as scam-linked accounts and fraudulent domains, and coordinate enforcement actions.

By sharing intelligence in near real time, companies hope to identify these scams earlier and stop them before they spread.

The effort reflects how modern scams operate. A victim might encounter a fake celebrity investment ad on social media, move to a messaging app where the scammer builds trust, then faces prompts to send money through a fraudulent website, payment app or crypto wallet — spanning multiple companies’ ecosystems.

Google said it now blocks hundreds of millions of scam-related results every day using AI, underscoring how both attackers and defenders are increasingly relying on the same technology. Meta removed more than 159 million scam ads in 2025 and is expanding AI tools to detect impersonation and warn users.

Online scams are growing rapidly, in part because generative AI has lowered the barrier to entry. AI can be used not only to produce realistic phishing emails but also to clone voices and deepfake videos that impersonate executives, public figures and even family members.

The agreement is voluntary and doesn’t create new legal obligations, but it comes after regulators’ increased pressure on tech platforms to address fraud more aggressively. The companies say they will begin building frameworks for reporting and intelligence-sharing, though it’s not yet clear how quickly those systems will be deployed or how effective they will be in practice.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Wednesday, March 18

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for March 18.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

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