But AI slop is not all fun, games and eye-rolling.<\/p>\n
An AI journalist for business magazine Forbes wrote in September<\/a> that AI slop is replacing once-valued professions. And a social media entrepreneur who turned to the \u201cside gig\u201d of creating AI content after being laid off by an internet company says<\/a> it\u2019s become the latest trend for earning side income, similar to Uber or street vending.<\/p>\n Overall, though I applauded the winner, I thought Macquarie Dictionary\u2019s 2025 shortlist<\/a> was banal, even boring. <\/p>\n Where, I thought, are the colourful expressions of days long gone? The \u201cbachelor\u2019s handbag<\/a>\u201d (a takeaway roast chicken in a plastic bag)? The \u201cmilkshake duck<\/a>\u201d (a person viewed popularly by the media, until a questionable discovery makes their popularity plunge)? \u201cGoblin mode<\/a>\u201d? None of them seem to have stuck around, but they were fun at the time.<\/p>\n \u2018Blandification\u2019?<\/p>\n A committee chooses a shortlist of 15 for the Word of the Year from the list of new entries and senses included in the annual update of the Macquarie Dictionary online. Then, the public are invited to vote for the People\u2019s Choice Word of the Year.<\/p>\n \u201cBlandification<\/a>\u201d \u2013 a term I thought I\u2019d coined, though it\u2019s been in the Oxford English Dictionary since 1969 \u2013 doesn\u2019t begin to describe many of the 15 expressions Macquarie asked the public to vote on. <\/p>\n \u201cAustralian sushi.\u201d (This means pretty much what you\u2019d think: the kind of nori hand rolls often sold as takeaway, \u201coften containing non-traditional fillings\u201d.) \u201cBathroom camping.\u201d (Isolating in a bathroom cubicle to seek solitude, avoid work or regulate emotions like anxiety or stress.) \u201cBlind box.\u201d (A mystery box containing an unseen collectable toy or figurine.) <\/p>\n And a term anyone with or around kids seems to both know about \u2026 and be a bit bewildered by: \u201csix-seven<\/a>.\u201d (A \u201cnonsense\u201d expression beloved by kids and teens, connected to a rap track<\/a> and a basketballer who is six feet and seven inches tall.)<\/p>\n The absurdist \u2018six-seven\u2019 has a connection to (among other things) basketballer LaMelo Ball, six feet and seven inches tall. The absurdly elusive term is apparently making life hell for maths teachers. It has already morphed into the even more ridiculous \u201csix-sendy\u201d for \u201cgoing all out\u201d and \u201c41\u201d, for \u201cnothing and everything at once\u201d.<\/p>\n Dictionary.com chose<\/a> \u201csix-seven\u201d as its Word of the Year \u2013 and calls it \u201cthe logical endpoint of being perpetually online, scrolling endlessly, consuming content fed to users by algorithms trained by other algorithms\u201d. <\/p>\n Social psychologist Adam Mastroianni recently said<\/a> we\u2019re in \u201ca crisis of conventionality, and an epidemic of the mundane\u201d. Macquarie\u2019s selection mostly epitomises this sentiment.<\/p>\n One of the Macquarie committee\u2019s two honourable mentions was \u201cclanker<\/a>\u201d, one of those words that changes meaning over time. A term with Star Wars origins, \u201cclanker\u201d once referred to a literal, metallic robot. Today, it\u2019s a slur for \u201can artificial intelligence-driven robot\u201d \u2013 like ChatGPT and other forms of AI \u2013 that performs tasks a human otherwise would.<\/p>\n The other was medical misogyny<\/a>: entrenched prejudice against women in the context of medical treatment and knowledge, especially in the area of reproductive health.<\/p>\n Parasocial and vibe coding<\/p>\n Macquarie\u2019s AI slop is mirrored in the other dictionaries\u2019 choices for 2025\u2019s Word of the Year, which collectively reflect the pernicious influence of social media.<\/p>\n Cambridge Dictionary chose parasocial<\/a>: a connection someone feels between themselves and a famous person they do not know, a fictional character or AI. For example, the millions of \u201cSwifties\u201d who sent congratulatory messages to Taylor Swift after she announced her engagement. <\/p>\n Millions of \u2018Swifties\u2019 who sent congratulatory messages to Taylor Swift on her engagement epitomise a \u2018parasocial\u2019 relationship. Collins Dictionary chose \u201cvibe coding<\/a>\u201d, which describes \u201cmaking an app or website by describing it to [AI] rather than by writing programming code manually\u201d. The managing director of Collins says it \u201cperfectly captures how language is evolving alongside technology\u201d.<\/p>\n Arch-sceptic professor Gary Marcus, who researches the intersection of cognitive psychology, neuroscience and artificial intelligence, describes AI<\/a> as \u201ca souped-up regurgitating machine trained on mined, copyrighted material\u201d.<\/p>\n It\u2019s all rather depressing \u2013 but there is a groundswell against AI-generated content. Feminist writer Caitlin Moran, in her Times column<\/a>, has been scathing about AI slop, describing it making ludicrous suggestions like using glue to get cheese to stick to a pizza, \u201cto give it more tackiness\u201d.<\/p>\n Vote for your favourite words<\/p>\n If you wish you had the chance to vote for a word of the year, it\u2019s not too late. Voting for the Oxford English Dictionary\u2019s People\u2019s Choice<\/a> closes December 2. <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/file-20251124-56-5pvxxj.jpg\")
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\n Nell Redmond\/AAP<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/file-20251124-66-dv32du.jpg\")
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\n Alistair Grant\/AAP<\/p>\n