Macquarie Dictionary Names 'AI Slop' Word of the Year for 2025

The Macquarie Dictionary has officially named "AI slop" as its Word of the Year for 2025, an honor it secured concurrently with the People's Choice award, a rare occurrence marking only the fourth time in the dictionary's history.

The committee for the Australian English dictionary cited the selection as a reflection of a significant societal shift over the past year, noting that while artificial intelligence is not a new concept, its direct impact on daily life has become undeniable. The dictionary formally defines "AI slop" as "low-quality content created by generative AI, often containing errors, and not requested by the user." The committee observed that the term's prominence signals a necessary evolution in online competency for 2025, as the public now clearly understands the meaning of slop as AI-generated material lacking substantial utility or meaning.

This linguistic selection reflects the proliferation of cheaply produced, rapidly disseminated AI-generated content. David Astle, a member of the Macquarie Dictionary committee, contextualized the term by comparing it to modern spam, noting its utility in compound words such as "slopaganda" and "corpslop." The committee remarked that the new digital environment demands a corresponding skill upgrade, stating, "we now need to become prompt engineers in order to wade through the AI slop," a shift from the previous primary digital skill of becoming a "search engineer."

Specific instances illustrating AI's influence in the public sphere were cited, including former US President Donald Trump being identified as a high-profile purveyor of content fitting the description, such as an AI-generated video he shared in February 2025 depicting a hypothetical post-takeover scenario in Gaza. This trend is further supported by an analysis earlier in the year which estimated that over half of the longer English-language posts on LinkedIn were generated by artificial intelligence.

The committee also bestowed Honourable Mentions upon other terms reflecting contemporary shifts. These included "Clanker," a derogatory term for an AI-driven robot performing human tasks, popularized by the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and "Medical misogyny," referencing entrenched prejudice against females in medical knowledge and treatment. Shortlisted contenders for the 2025 distinction were "Ozempic face," related to semaglutide drug use, and "Blind box," referring to mystery collectibles. The broader context of digital literacy is being redefined, emphasizing a necessary shift from content consumption to the critical evaluation and verification of AI outputs.