AI Slop: The Impact of Low-Effort AI Content on Digital Ecosystems

Recently, artificial intelligence (AI)-generated videos and posts have exploded on social media and digital platforms. Companies are using AI to automatically generate content to increase user retention, and brands are considering to use  AI influencers. While this trend may seem effective to the media ecosystem, it's actually leading to a "content overload" that prioritizes quantity over quality. 

Today, tech giants like Meta, OpenAI, and Google are leveraging generative AI to easily create images, videos, and text. In Korea, low quality memes and videos created with generative AI are spreading like wildfire. Platforms are taking measures such as restricting the monetization of repetitive or reused AI content and introducing AI-based labeling, but fundamental solutions are still lacking.

Ultimately, as the production style of ‘creating with AI’ increases, the phenomenon of content excluding human emotions and creativity becoming the center is accelerating. The problem is that this "AI slop" replaces human authenticity and causes user fatigue. With social media overflowing with short, provocative AI videos, people are increasingly complaining of fatigue, wondering, "Why am I watching this?" What started out as simple entertainment or curiosity, at some point, the quality of the content deteriorated, and the overall credibility of the platform eroded. It leads to a deterioration in the quality of the digital ecosystem. A vicious cycle occurs, where AI learns from low-quality data and produces yet more low-quality content. As content without human creativity proliferates, platforms become more homogenized and user experiences become monotonous. 

AI Slop is a structural problem that threatens diversity and trust in the digital society. Addressing this requires several efforts. First, institutional mechanisms must be established to clearly indicate AI content. Visual cues, such as watermarks or icons, that users can easily distinguish are needed. Second, authentic content must be created through collaboration between AI and humans. Ideally, AI should be used as a supporting tool, with humans in charge of planning, editing, and emotional expression. Third, platforms should improve their algorithms and monetization policies to incentivize original creations over repetitive, low-quality content. Finally, users themselves should adopt a critical perspective while consuming content, asking, "Who created this, and why?"Ultimately, AI slop is a problem of high-volume, low-quality content. 

No matter how much technology advances, content lacking human emotion and trust will never last. We are not simply consumers of streaming video; we are participants who create meaning in digital spaces. The moment we ask ourselves, "Why was this created?" every time we watch content, we are already creating a healthier digital ecosystem.