A new glossary of AI-era slang maps out a language shaped by frustration, deception, and fatigue—one where terms like AI slop and AI slaps have entered everyday conversation. Professor Dan Weld and a writer who has tracked AI jargon since 2023 assembled the list, illustrating how swiftly the technology has altered communication, trust, and mental well-being.
The most prominent term, AI slop, earned the title of Merriam-Webster’s 2025 Word of the Year. It refers to “Digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence”, exemplified by the thousands of posts featuring “Shrimp Jesus”, an AI-generated fusion of a crustacean and a religious figure, overwhelming social media platforms. The term’s popularity reflects a broader cultural transformation: AI has evolved from a mere tool into a force capable of generating both abundance and chaos. On one end lies the slop; on the other, AI cream—exceptional, high-quality output that cuts through the noise.
The AI era’s vocabulary extends beyond content quality to issues of trust. The meat proxy describes individuals who distribute AI-generated text, code, or images without reviewing, comprehending, or verifying them. The act of doing so carries its own label: an AI slap, a phrase that conveys the sting of negligence in an environment where misinformation circulates faster than corrections can keep pace. A website called Your AI Slop Bores Me allows users to parody the trend by having humans mimic chatbot responses, achieving 50 million views in a single week—a measure of how deeply the frustration resonates.
Some terms in the glossary are not entirely new. Deepfakes, AI-manipulated videos or audio that depict individuals saying or doing things they never did, emerged in 2017 when a Reddit user with the handle deepfakes popularized the concept. Their influence has since expanded, particularly as the liar’s dividend takes root: the more prevalent fakes become, the less credible real evidence appears. A manipulated video may spread widely, but so does skepticism about any recording’s authenticity.
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Tech’s Power Elite and Anti-Democratic Tendencies
Other phrases address power relations in the tech industry. Broligarchy identifies “a small group of extremely wealthy men, particularly those in technology, who wield significant political and economic power”, a term that gained prominence after journalist Carole Cadwalladr used it in 2024. The idea traces back to Peter Thiel’s network, which, according to author Gil Durán, believes “technology means democracy is an obsolete software system”. The phrase Silicon Valley Fascism, coined in Durán’s book, frames the tension between tech leaders who view governance as a problem to be streamlined rather than a framework to uphold.
The psychological effects of this era are also captured in the lexicon. A related condition we dub agentsomnia is the chronic inability to rest or disconnect from work, driven by the haunting feeling that your autonomous software or AI agents are stalled without your feedback. Meanwhile, AI fatigue describes the exhaustion or the sense of being overwhelmed by the rapid proliferation and constant engagement with artificial intelligence technologies. The phrase has been drifting through the trade press since 2023 with no author attached.
The language of ambition in the AI space has grown cynical. Bragawatts, a unit of measurement for boasting, quantifies the practice of AI companies boasting about very large projects to create excitement and attract investment, even though many of these projects are never completed. The term was defined by Britain’s Cambridge Dictionary in January 2026.
Where’s the Hope in AI’s New Language?
The glossary highlights gaps where solutions might emerge. For now, the AI lexicon is dominated by criticism, slop, shaming, deepfakes, and the erosion of attention. A word for meaningful progress remains absent.
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The proliferation of AI-driven deception has also spawned new types of fraud. Chatfishing, the use of AI to write messages on a dating app, replaces older tactics like fake photos with fully scripted personas. The method exploits the same trust users place in chatbots, now repurposed for romantic scams. Meanwhile, cheapfakes demonstrate that AI is not always necessary: manipulated media can be produced with basic software or even manual editing, blurring the line between high-tech deception and low-effort trickery.
Dead Internet Theory and the Human-Bot Divide
The backlash against AI’s cultural influence has introduced new concepts. Dead internet theory, once a niche forum idea, has entered mainstream discourse, describing a web where human-generated content is increasingly overshadowed by bot-produced posts. The theory gained traction in 2021 and now shapes debates about online authenticity, though its claims remain contested. Oxford University Press revived the phrase as its 2024 word of the year.
Emerging and Hypothetical Terms in AI Discourse
New phrases have entered circulation to describe specific behaviors or risks tied to AI’s expanding role. One example is counterfeit people, a concept philosopher Daniel Dennett explored in his final work, warning that machines capable of human-like interaction pose an existential threat to freedom and economic stability. He argued for strict regulations, including mandatory watermarks to distinguish synthetic from human-generated content. Meanwhile, Tilly Norwood, an AI-generated actress introduced at the 2025 Zurich Film Festival, sparked industry alarm when talent agents expressed interest in representing her, while actress Emily Blunt publicly criticized the trend as evidence of AI’s disruptive potential in entertainment.
Other terms reflect shifting attitudes toward AI’s capabilities and risks. P(doom) quantifies individual beliefs about AI’s likelihood of causing global catastrophe, framed as a numerical probability to normalize discussions about existential threats. The phrase originated in niche online forums in 2022 but has since entered broader conversations.