🔓 The Word of the Year Isn't What You Think

Good morning. Merriam-Webster just made "slop" its word of the year. Not "AI." Slop. Today I'm digging into what that word actually means, because most people are using it wrong, and it changes what you should actually be checking for.

Merriam-Webster and the American Dialect Society both just named "slop" their word of the year for 2025. Not "AI." Slop. Two groups of language experts needed a new word because the old ones stopped being enough.

Ask five people what it means and you get five answers. Some mean anything AI touched. Some mean the too-smooth fake photos clogging their feed. Only one of those is the real definition.

Merriam-Webster's definition is blunt: AI-generated content made in bulk that was never worth much to begin with. Notice what's missing. It doesn't say made by AI. It says low quality, high volume, little value. Three things have to be true: nobody reviewed it, it exists to farm clicks, and it would be just as bad if a careless person wrote it by hand. None of that depends on which tool did the typing.

A separate, real problem keeps getting lumped in with it. AI can sound completely confident while being completely wrong, and confidence is not the same as accuracy. That's worth taking seriously on its own. Slop is about effort. Confident but wrong is about accuracy.

I run this newsletter through AI most days. I also read every line before it goes out, check the facts, and cut what doesn't sound right. That review is the whole difference between your inbox and slop. The tool was involved either way. The care wasn't.

Next time something online feels a little too smooth, don't ask whether AI made it. Ask whether anyone checked it first. That's the only question that was ever worth asking.

Go further: Would you notice if AI was lying to you? ◆ AI slop, explained

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AI TUTORIAL

This week I tried this on a family members car they are looking to purchase, a white Cadillac EV, just to see if it would actually work. Two minutes later I had a clean exploded-view illustration that kept the real paint color, the grille, the wheels, everything. No retries needed.

✓ Take or find a clear photo of your car, straight-on or three-quarter angle

✓ Upload it to ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini and ask for a realistic exploded-view illustration that keeps the real paint color, grille, wheels, and proportions

✓ Review the result against your actual car. Check the badges, the wheel design, the roofline

✓ Ask for one revision if a detail is off. Most tools get it close on the first try for common models

If it does not work: If the illustration drifts from your actual car, badges wrong, wheel design off, it's usually because your model isn't widely photographed. Common, well-known models tend to hold up better. Ask for one specific fix at a time rather than regenerating from scratch.

What this doesn't fix: This is a fun illustration, not an actual repair diagram. Don't use it to identify a real mechanical problem.

Go further: Why AI sometimes gets confident details wrong

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NEWS YOU CAN USE
This Matters at Home
Short, practical summaries to help you stay updated on recent AI news—and what it means for everyday life.

🛒 AI Shopping Agents Are Kind of All Over the Place. New research found AI shopping tools give wildly different product picks for the same exact question, even on the same day.

🎓 Nearly Half of Students Are Rethinking Their Major Because of AI. 40% of students surveyed have considered switching majors over AI fears, pre-med and computer science most anxious.

❤️ AI Spots Heart Disease From a Routine ECG in Under Two Seconds. A new tool catches heart failure and valve disease from a standard ECG, work that usually takes a months-long wait for an ultrasound.

🐶 This Smart Bowl Wants to Catch Your Dog's Illness Early. Hoomanely's bowl tracks how your dog eats and drinks, then flags changes that might mean something's wrong.

REAL WORLD
How To Use AI This Week
Real people, real uses—here’s how AI is quietly making life better, one small win at a time.

Before the Long Weekend Fills Up
🚗 The Labor Day Logistics Check. "Act as a trip planning assistant. I'm heading out for Labor Day weekend from [your city] to [destination], leaving [day/time] and returning [day/time]. There will be [number] of us, including [any kids, pets, or people with specific needs]. Give me: a realistic estimate of traffic-heavy departure and return windows for this route over a major holiday weekend, two alternate departure times that might beat the worst of it, a packing checklist adjusted for [weather or activity, e.g. 'a lake house with kids' or 'a road trip with a dog'], and one thing people commonly forget for this kind of trip. Then ask me follow-up questions about anything you need to give better advice." ◆ Try in ChatGPT ◆ Try in Claude

👉 Want to help our readers out? Share how you used AI at home.

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