AI slop is a feature, not a bug, and your brand is the next casualty

"Google, Meta, OpenAI, LinkedIn, TikTok and the rest of the attention cartel are not drowning in AI slop by mistake, they're selling the lifeboats. The only way out (to be seen) is to buy ads. Whodathunk? The flood of AI-generated content isn't an accident or a temporary byproduct of big tech progress, it's the logical outcome of a business model built on noise."

"The economics are brutally simple. In the past, platforms competed on quality of information and ease of access. Now the big platforms compete on control of curation. Every degraded search result, hallucinated summary, or repetitive video of AI-generated nonsense deepens reliance on the algorithmic filters that decide what cuts through. The slop is not a bug to fix; it is a feature that fuels demand for the next layer of monetised clarity."

"AI slop is economic leverage as it amplifies information asymmetry between producers and platforms. Brands, investors and even governments must now pay intermediaries for access to reliable signal. In financial markets, synthetic data and bot-driven sentiment can distort price discovery. In policymaking, AI-generated lobbying and fake grassroots campaigns are already shaping perception. In business, decision quality erodes as managers operate on degraded informational inputs, mistaking virality for validity."

Major platforms have allowed a flood of AI-generated, low-quality content because noise increases user dependence on platform curation and paid filters. Platform business models reward chaos by making algorithmic filters more valuable, turning degraded search results, hallucinated summaries and repetitive videos into demand drivers for monetised clarity. That dynamic amplifies information asymmetry: brands, investors and governments must purchase intermediated signals to access reliable information. Synthetic data and bot-driven sentiment can distort financial price discovery and policymaking through fake lobbying and astroturf campaigns. Business decision quality worsens as managers conflate virality with validity. Authenticity and contextual clarity become premium, monetisable assets; some platforms are experimenting with user controls to limit slop.

Read at City AM