"AI slop" is the new "em dash" with a nasty little sting in its tail

(aka tell me you chase metrics without telling me you chase metrics)

For starters, I’m of the opinion that if you need a piece of punctuation to spot AI-generated writing, you should stay out of the conversation. Reason being, you’re clearly not in the writing game, so neither is your ideal client. It’s not something you need to worry about enough to comment on. Writing about it is a lazy metric grab.

The “AI slop” thing, however? There’s a snidey dig in there that I don’t like.

Understanding the finer points of punctuation and how to deploy it to best effect is specialist territory. You can be very literate and still not fully grasp those.

But “AI slop” posts step it up from ‘spotting’ to sneering at AI-generated/assisted writing. And by proxy, those who make use of it. Including people who don’t feel confident writing.

And that’s where I take issue. Want to know a dirty little secret?

I don’t care about people generating their copy with AI.

I care about it being on-brand for them, well-edited, and doing what it needs to do. Without them having an existential crisis writing it.

Sure. Some of it, someone didn’t care enough to bother with a few basics. And it shows.

But for every piece of empty content, with the same tell-tales stamped all over it, there are far more people using it because they don’t think their own writing is up to scratch, and they do care about how they present.

Because, newsflash: Literacy is a privilege. 

Being literate and articulate means someone cared enough to help you learn. And being confident in your writing means you benefited from a decent standard of education. It means you weren’t hamstrung by dyslexia, dysgraphia, or anything else that made it more challenging for you to get your meaning across with words.

And it means you should appreciate that instead of punching down to boost your metrics.