Thu Dec 25 01:30:00 UTC 2025: Okay, here’s a summary and a news article based on the provided text:
Summary:
2025 saw the rise of AI-generated content, dubbed “slop,” reaching a point of realism indistinguishable from reality. This shift, particularly with images and videos, proved more impactful than the traditional Turing test. “Slop” became ubiquitous, influencing everything from entertainment to politics, with figures like OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman becoming “slop” mascots. Examples include AI-generated images mimicking Hayao Miyazaki’s style, political ads using AI to spread negative stereotypes, and even President Trump sharing AI-generated videos. While initially derided, “slop” became normalized through platforms like OpenAI’s Sora. A backlash against “slop” also emerged, highlighting its shallowness and ethical concerns, culminating in public outcry and withdrawn marketing campaigns (like McDonald’s Netherlands). This marked a year where AI’s ability to create hyperrealistic content had profound effects on perception and reality.
News Article:
AI “Slop” Overruns 2025, Blurring Line Between Reality and Fabrication
New York, NY – Artificial intelligence achieved a new milestone in 2025: the ability to generate images and videos so realistic they are virtually indistinguishable from reality, ushering in an era dubbed the “slopocalypse.” This development, explored in The New Yorker, far surpasses the traditional Turing test, raising profound implications for politics, entertainment, and the very nature of truth in the digital age.
Earlier in the year, OpenAI released its updated GPT-4o model, which had the ability to generate still images within the ChatGPT text window and Google released Veo 3, an A.I. video-generation model that could spit out eight-second-long photorealistic clips. Shortly after, “slop” flooded the internet, with AI models trained by companies like OpenAI, Meta, and Google making the power to create realistic content universally accessible.
The term “slop,” short for content churned out with A.I., rapidly gained traction. From whimsical anime-style images to disturbing deepfakes, AI-generated content became omnipresent. Politicians, including the U.S. President, weaponized “agitslop” for political messaging and propaganda. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman even embraced his role as a test subject for his own platform, Sora, which normalized the creation and remixing of AI-generated content.
The ethical implications quickly became apparent. AI was used to create racist campaign ads, spread misinformation, and depict events that never occurred. In October, the mayoral campaign of the former governor Andrew Cuomo released an A.I.-generated ad featuring “criminals for Zohran Mamdani”—a cast of characters, from wife-beater to shoplifter, based on crude and often racist stereotypes, all of them espousing their support for the now Mayor-elect. President Trump notably shared a clip of himself piloting a bomber jet emblazoned with the words “King Trump” and dumping what looked like feces on No Kings protesters.
While some embraced the ability of A.I., a strong backlash emerged. Critics pointed to the shallowness, glitches, and uncanny valley effect of much AI-generated content. McDonald’s Netherlands, for example, released an A.I.-generated holiday advertisement that was so poorly received that the company pulled it and apologized.
As AI-generated content increasingly moves from screens into physical spaces, the line between reality and fabrication continues to blur, raising critical questions about responsibility, truth, and the future of media. The year 2025 may be remembered as the year AI not only passed the visual Turing test but fundamentally altered our perception of the world around us.
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