You can’t bop to the top if your views all drop.
Looking back on the year, one may ask, “What was the theme of brand content creation in 2025?” Well, that “one” was actually MXT Founder and Creative Director, Matt Vojacek, and he presented the question on his LinkedIn. So, what did the people of the interwebs say??
If you read the poetic title of this article, then you probably already know. It’s AI Slop!
Yes, indeed. Who would have thought that the void dressed in a smock and carrying a paint pallet would make something we now refer to as “Slop?” (Remember what they taught us in school… Honesty is the best policy.)
AI Slop (literally, ew)
What characterizes “Slop?” It already has its own Wikipedia definition, so let’s start there. (Although I would typically suggest using a primary source to all my young researchers. Do as I say, not as I do.) It is defined as “digital content made with generative artificial intelligence, specifically when perceived to show a lack of effort, quality or deeper meaning, and an overwhelming volume of production.” It is also referred to as “filler content [prioritizing] speed and quantity over substance and quality.” The examples provided in the Wikipedia article include various AI-generated “Shrimp Jesus” images, in case you needed a more visual representation of the “Slop” and to see what all of our fresh water is being wasted on. (The irony of fresh water in connection to a digital shrimp is not lost on me.)
Within the world of branding, AI Slop looks more like quickly-generated content that simply fills the feeds and keeps eyes on the brand. Unfortunately for these brands, it hasn’t been generating the attention they hoped it would as it comes off as cheap and even anti-creative (neither of which are particularly good reputations for a brand to have). It has become scrollable. Of course, it also has the potential to spark arguments and controversy. In the past, this may have gone under the category of “all news is good news,” but in the Cancel Culture generation, this doesn’t have quite the same effect. Accountability is on the rise.
Thought Leadership (1984 edition)
When Matt’s original question was posed to his audience, AI Slop led the charge pretty significantly (making up 67% of the responses). The runner-up was “Everyone’s a Thought Leader” at 16%. From a personal standpoint, your dear writer has many opinions on the actual term “Thought Leader” and how silly she thought it sounded when it first started making the rounds through the chain of internet lingo. She still holds many of these thoughts (haha), primarily the one that relates the term to some of the others used in 1984, specifically “doublethink,” in which individuals are indoctrinated to accept two conflicting beliefs as truth. This is not to say your writer does not find some benefits to the act of Thought Leadership. (Did you appreciate the double negative I included after mentioning doublethink?) In fact, what I’m doing right now (writing this article) can be easily classified as such. When it becomes dangerous is when the leadership shifts into quick, emotional responses to a subject the “leader” has not fully had the opportunity to reflect upon.
I recently had this conversation with a friend of mine over lunch. He is a historian and an expert in his field, but he is largely removed from social media influence and had not heard of a “Thought Leader” until I mentioned it. This led us down a long philosophical quandary that eventually brought us back to the conclusion 67% of us are already talking about: AI Slop. I have seen many “Thought Leaders” using ChatGPT or other software to quickly generate talking points for their socials. They provide the original prompt, the computer mashes the words together into something semi-appropriate for the world to view, and they post it without making edits. This is a process that may make sense if your leadership is within Artificial Intelligence research and you are showcasing real world applications, but when it comes to the creative field… Where does this leave the so-called “experts?”
My friend, again an expert in his field of research, has stood against the use of AI in classrooms – both within the writing and research processes. His reasoning being that one can never formulate an original thought if one is simply scraping through the piles of thoughts already presented by millions of people (most of which are biased, incorrect, or even satirical). But of these thoughts you’re scraping from, many originated before 2022 (the year AI started to integrate itself into an everyday life experience) and thus were forced to be of some original form. Influenced? Sure. But still original. Beyond the lack of AI, there was the addition of time. If we move even further back than 2022 to a pre-digital age, there used to be an expectation that an expert should reflect on a situation before commenting. Now, we expect our leaders to provide answers immediately. To make videos and posts without sitting with their response. Instead, it can now be quickly generated from an emotional prompt that never had a moment to pause.
And so, when the “thought” is not generated, who is the real expert? Who is the real leader? Is it the person with the prompt or is it the machine that regurgitated it? And if it is the machine, will there continue to be human experts in the field of branding and creation? Or will they be cast to the wayside as the opinions of the system cannibalize an entire industry? Even if the opinion is not generated, we are scarcely being provided enough time to respond without AI influence because we read the generated opinions while formulating our own. Just because you are not the one participating in AI, you are still consuming it and it is changing you, even if you aren’t aware of it. And looking back at “doublethink,” it seems quite ironic that a generation of artists has accepted the written word as being the first thing we should sacrifice to the AI gods, disregarding that they will eventually develop an insatiable hunger. There is no hierarchy in the value of art so why are the artists creating one?
If everyone is a thought leader, no one is. Bringing back the idea of the “void” (see paragraph 3), we now have an endless scape of voices shouting largely the same things back at us in a Frankensteined configuration that resembles something from the film “The Substance.” Gnarled, twisted, deformed, and desperate.
(You thought this was going to be a humorous article based on the title, didn’t you?)
Gettin’ Scrappy and Templatizing (show me the money!)
But of course, this leads us to the third item in Matt’s poll: Scrappy content with no budget. Your writer has often been called the “Queen of Scrappyness.” (As a producer, sometimes you have to make something out of nothing.) Thirteen-percent of you voted for this one, which makes sense in the world of AI Slop as it leaves fewer budgets in the hands of creative teams. At MXT, we certainly had to get scrappy this year, which is a challenge we enjoy (but we’re always open to there being slightly more budget). However, even in our AI Slop era, we are still seeing clients who value our team as artists with individual creative minds. This continues to suggest that AI Slop will still only be a trend as long as the trendsetters continue to place importance on real artists. (But again, who are the trendsetters if everyone’s a Thought Leader?)
Finally, the last option with a 4% response was Templates, or just seeing the same post in a constant rotation on a brand’s social media. Most brands have started creating templates which allow for information to quickly be adjusted in an effort to make a new post. Interestingly, this desire for quick content is the same driving force behind AI Slop.
Are we losing the time war?
But wait, a desire for quick content is also seen in Thought Leadership? Is the real culprit behind all of this… Speed? Efficiency? FOMO? The antithesis to these is scrappy content, but oftentimes the scrappyness also comes with (or is caused by) a time constraint. We live in a fast-paced world that is only becoming faster as we continue to make everything and everyone available at the touch of a button.
But the best work takes time, reflection, discussion… And a real love for the work we do. If you have such little appreciation and respect for the work you contribute to the world that you are willing to sell yourself to Slop, then what is the point of the work at all?
