The easy availability of powerful generative AI programs like ChatGPT, Gemini, and other image and music generation tools has given everyone the ability to instantly “create” any image, video, or song they can imagine. As the resulting flood of computer-generated content washes up on shore, Internet users and observers are calling it “slopcore.”
Also known as “AI slop,” the aesthetic of slopcore comes from people using AI as a collaborator rather than a tool, letting machines make artistic choices. It is marked by the strangely offbeat, almost real and strange atmosphere of machines imitating humanity. Slopcore often depicts deeply emotional topics, but the lack of depth and insight makes it particularly disturbing.
At first glance, slopcore photos and videos appear realistic, but closer inspection reveals misplaced anatomy, impossible geometry, and a strange “glow” from overly smooth surfaces and overly perfect lighting. Slopcore music has the same vibe, in audible form. The instruments sound bland and midrange and the vocals sound strange due to attempts to sound “emotional” but being disconnected from actual emotions.
Here are some examples of slopcore videos:
And here’s “No More Slop”, an example of slopcore music that I generated in 45 seconds with Suno, and here are some slopcore images of protest singers generated by ChatGPT and Meta AI:
What do you think of it so far?
Credit: ChatGPT, MetaAI
Note the details that don’t really fit together – the guitar strap not attached to the guitar, the sign crossing the singer’s head, the generic “AI font” used on the sign, the guitarist’s extra foot on the left – these are all signs of slopcore.
While generative AI programmers work hard to create models that don’t add fingers or limbs, some enjoy Slopcore. because of its faults and the particularly disturbing and strange valley feeling that they evoke. If you look past the sentimentality and hallucinations, AI slop shows a vision of a likely future where almost everything is made by machines, and almost no one can tell the difference.
