Problem
Using AI output without adding human judgment or value. The formula: prompt AI → lightly edit → present as yours.
Two flavors degrading information quality everywhere:
- Exploitation slop: Mass-produced content gaming systems for profit
- Lazy slop: Zero-effort AI output passed off as original thought
What Goes Wrong
- Real insights become needles in haystacks
- The bar for "acceptable" keeps dropping
- Common spaces become useless, people tune out or leave
Example
Exploitation: AI-generated foraging guides flood bookstores, confidently mixing deadly mushrooms with edible ones.
Lazy: Having AI write your LinkedIn article, or presenting AI's analysis as your own insights in a meeting.
Solution
You can't stop the flood, but you can choose not to add to it.
The slop test: Could anyone with your prompt get the same result? That's probably slop.
Add value instead:
- Use AI as thought partner, not ghost writer
- Include YOUR specific context and hard-won insights
- Iterate until genuinely useful
- No value added = don't hit publish
