HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE SLOP
A new lecture on the impact of AI Slop on Images
I was recently invited by Boston University’s School of Visual Arts to present the keynote at Multiple Formats, their graphic design conference organized by Christopher Sloboda.
I chose the topic of AI Slop…
Specifically, I was interested in the potential positive effects of Slop. A “sloptimist” take, if you will. I thought immediately on how it might affect Necromemetics, which I wrote about here last December.
As a reminder.
“AI Slop refers to the pervasive wave of quickly produced, low-quality AI-generated content currently flooding platforms such as Facebook and TikTok. While this proliferation can be viewed optimistically as the inevitable cost associated with lowering barriers to content creation, it raises significant concerns regarding media consumption habits. Essentially, AI Slop is what emerges when the technological ease of creation meets our human appetite for rapid, uncomplicated entertainment.”
“Necromemetics is the process by which symbolic death is enacted on individuals or groups through the repetitive circulation of digital images, memes, or videos. These images, through their widespread reproduction and reinterpretation, strip the subject of agency, dignity, or humanity, reducing them to objects of ridicule, adoration, moral condemnation or martyrdom in the digital sphere. The perp walk and its mediatization is an early form of necromemetics. Good or bad, the groups and individuals become mere icons, symbolically dead and frozen for our incessant consumption.”
Hope you enjoy the lecture :)