Sloppy choices

Another day, another dictionary chooses its word of the year.

This time, it’s “AI slop” - which are two words, mind you, but that didn’t stop Macquarie dictionary from picking them as its word of choice. Oh well, considering that Macquarie also considered “Ozempic face”, “blind box” and “ate (and left no crumbs”) as likely candidates, who needs to quibble about little details like the definition of “word”, right?

“AI slop” refers to all the mush we are being fed by the internet. The memes, the vignettes, the slapstick humor --all those crappy, cheesy, and crass stuff pushed by the algorithm on us, every single moment we linger on our gadgets, and which we happily, thoughtlessly keep on consuming, not knowing that our brain cells are slowly deteriorating, our attention spans getting shorter, our tempers fraying, and our addiction taking ever firmer hold.

Why did it win? Well, exactly for that reason. Slop (itself, and not the word) has dominated our ever increasingly tech-dependent universe, and there seems to be no running away from it, unless one kicks out the soc-med apps from our phones. Although when one simply researches on Google, the targeted ads immediately pop out and entice you to move to the next titillating page.

Think you’re too smart to be caught up in the latest showbiz scandals? Then the algorithm will adjust, and will feed you politics, or breaking news, or Gaza, or natural disasters. A few minutes watching developments on the flooding in Cebu, and then a few days later, floods in Hat Yai and Hanoi will stream past your phone. You like natural disasters, right? That fire in Hong Kong, and related blog commentaries by people who don’t even live in Hong Kong, will soon roar past you.

Politics, right? Soon, notifications for MAGA, ICE, AOC, and Trump will kick in. Developments at the ICC, hearings in Congress, and soon after, spliced vids and reaction vids by random wannabe influencers will cross your path.

Slop is what explains “brain rot”, another dire consequence of this new dawn, and which won Oxford’s word of the year in 2024. It’s also related to another Macquarie candidate, “attention economy”. For those not in the know, our attention is now a major economic opportunity, a commodity to be chased and monetized. When we pause and look, when we focus, that is a prize cherished by marketeers, and consequently billed to clients.

Perhaps, “attention economy” lost because average joes don’t really use these words. But then again, slop Al isn’t that ubiquitous, either. Blind box would have been more endearing to Pinoys, having been caught up in the Pop mart-Labubu craze for a short while there.

“Ate and left no crumbs” is quite popular, as well, currently being applied even to Miss Universe candidates in their quest for the crown, although the term should more aptly be utilized for corrupt politicians and the way they chomped through national budgets. Crocs who saw opportunity by the billions, and ate all of that up, to the detriment of the rest of the Filipinos taxpayers who trusted them with their lives.

There was just this smorgasbord of cash for construction projects, and the stupid politicos didn’t even check to see whether the projects that were being built were going to pass safety standards, or last for a few years until after their term. As it is, because of climate change, the rains are harder and stronger, and the stress testing on flood control projects are much more severe. More projects are failing, and every day we see just how we were seriously, nay, criminally neglected by this bunch of criminals.

Cambridge dictionary has chosen “parasocial” as its own winner. For Filipino politicians, “parasite” might be more relevant. Or “sociopath”.

Yes. Even a discourse on lofty developments in language somehow descends to a diatribe against our venal politicians. That’s more evidence of AI slop for you.