Why were you sent this link?
Someone values your ideas, but feels the last message, document, or code you sent might have been generated by AI without a human filter. They sent you here to save both of you some time.
The bottom line
Artificial intelligence is a great tool. It's a brilliant brainstorming partner, a tireless pair programmer, and a fantastic editor. But it's not a substitute for you.
When you use AI to generate content without curating, editing, or verifying it, you aren't saving time. You are transferring the cognitive load of your work onto the person receiving it. That uncurated, generic, bloated output? That's Slop.
Let's stop the slop and get back to doing great work together.
The "one-shot" rule
If your entire contribution was produced by a single prompt, it is likely not that valuable. High-quality work still requires a human touch, and the receiver of your work can prompt the AI themselves.
The readability promise
AI loves writing long, meaningless texts filled with platitudes. Forwarding this creates an unnecessary reading tax, forcing your colleagues to sift through paragraphs of artificial fluff. Keep it brief.
The authorship guarantee
If you didn't read the whole thing, why should anyone else? Never hit send, publish, or submit on something you haven't reviewed line-by-line.
Further reading
- Workslop: The Hidden Cost of AI-Generated Busywork BetterUp Labs and Stanford research reveals 40% of U.S. desk workers received workslop last month, costing companies an average of $9M per year.
- Coding on Copilot: Data Shows AI's Downward Pressure on Code Quality GitClear analyzed 153 million changed lines of code and found that AI-assisted development is driving up code churn and reducing code reuse.
- Slop is the new name for unwanted AI-generated content Simon Willison on why "slop" is the perfect word for mindlessly generated AI content thrust upon someone who didn't ask for it — the spam of the AI age.