The Slop Problem Isn’t What You Think

The post The Slop Problem Isn’t What You Think appeared first on Javvad Malik.
There’s a bloke on Twitter who spent three hours writing a passionate thread about AI ruining the internet. There was quite the debate, and someone asked if he’d ever used Grammarly.
That’s the whole story, really.
People call AI content “slop” with contempt reserved for microwaving fish at the office. But there’s plenty of human slop too. The “I hired a homeless person and now they’re my CEO” posts. The security vendors promising quantum AI blockchain zero trust salvation. Or the one I hate the most, posts which end with “thoughts?”
I think people hate AI writing because writing is supposed to hurt. You delete everything at 2am, question your existence, publish something you’re still not happy with. AI skips the suffering, and that feels like cheating.
Which is mad. We’ve been automating writing forever. Spell checkers, grammar tools, templates. Nobody’s drafting security policies by candlelight on principle.
A lot of AI writing is terrible. Soulless, repetitive, generic. But so is a lot of human writing. I’ve sat through vendor whitepapers with seven listed authors that would embarrass a school newspaper.
We’re not actually angry about quality. We’re angry about dues. Did you suffer enough? Did you earn it?
Use AI to skip thinking entirely and yes, that’s slop. But humans were producing thoughtless slop long before the models showed up.
The slop was coming from inside the house all along.
Thoughts?

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Javvad Malik authored by j4vv4d. Read the original post at: https://javvadmalik.com/2026/04/30/the-slop-problem-isnt-what-you-think/

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AndyC

Andy Curtis is an award-winning security consultant, researcher and public speaker. He has been working in the computer security industry since the early 1990s, having been employed by state and federal government, leading healthcare and banking providers across three continents. He has given talks about computer security for some of the world’s largest companies, worked with law enforcement agencies on investigations into hacking groups, and is a regular voice on TV and radio explaining IT security threats.

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