# How reality turns to slop > Source: > Published: 2026-06-15 10:42:34+00:00 *tldr: ai slop influences culture by shifting the Overton window, which then feeds back into AI during training* I want to describe a dynamic by which AI generated outputs might push the world to become more and more cartoonish, strange, simple, and generally slop like which I am calling *hyperslopification* (AI slop + [hyperstition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperstition)). This work is somewhat speculative but I will also try to point to real world examples of where I think this might already be happening. This is a particular instance of the broader concern that [AI distorts culture by changing the memetic environment](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/tz5AmWbEcMBQpiEjY/why-you-don-t-believe-in-xhosa-prophecies). The term ‘ai slop’ is generally used to designate ai generated content that is low in quality and produced with little effort, often in large volumes. However I want to emphasise a common property of ai slop which I will call its ‘hyperpalatability’. [Hyperpalatable food](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperpalatable_food) is engineered to be easy to consume and addictive by including large amounts of salt, fat and sugar; ingredients which we have evolved to crave. AI slop similarly exploits our evolved preferences by producing cultural artefacts that optimise for aesthetic properties like symmetry and legibility as well as more visceral ones like sexiness and cuteness. This has been a general trend in our culture since well before AI. In particular social media and recommendation algorithms have already altered the memetic environment in a way that selects for cheap manipulation of human attention; clickbait, ragebait, thirst traps, etc. However generative AI pushes this to extreme levels for a number of reasons: The hyperpalatability of AI slop described above makes it inherently memetically fit. It grabs attention, and provokes strong reactions. Furthermore its low cost (in time, effort and money) make it especially useful for precisely the people who are most interested in producing viral content whether for profit, propaganda or simply for likes. It can easily be used for A/B testing, targeted to extremely small niches, or in rapid response to current events or trends. Even its weaknesses contribute to its spread, with its ridiculousness and controversy around it provoking reactions that drive virality. All of these factors combined with sheer volume mean that AI generated videos, images and text can easily start to take up an outsized space within online culture. Where things get interesting is the effect that this has on our expectations for reality itself. As we get more and more used to seeing images that are cuter, sexier, weirder, etc. both our baselines and our Overton window shift in the direction of extremity, and life starts to imitate art. One particularly obvious domain for this to happen is beauty standards. There has already been plenty of discussion about how things like instagram filters and Hollywood steroid use push people to expect more and more unrealistic norms. As we see more and more AI generated people we start wanting more and more symmetrical faces, squarer jaws, more bulging muscles etc. [The Guardian has already reported](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/may/23/rise-in-plastic-surgeons-asked-to-create-ai-face-cosmetic-surgery) a rise in people coming to plastic surgeons seeking ‘AI face’. As AI shifts our desires the market will move to satisfy them, you can expect the next generation of Hollywood actors and internet influencers to look AI generated whether by plastic surgery or simply selection. The inspiration for this post came from a talk by British-Iranian artist [Parham Ghalamdar](https://www.ghalamdar.com/). The talk focussed on how during the 2025 [Twelve Day War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-Day_War) between Iran and Israel, social media was flooded with a wave of AI generated images of Iranian female soldiers posted by pro Iran propaganda/meme accounts. A few things are worth noting about these images: Whether these were state propaganda, Iranian citizens, other propagandists or simply parodies, the result was to create a new image in the Iranian popular consciousness: A woman who was simultaneously empowered, patriotic and overtly feminine. Since the start of the current US-Israel-Iran war a new wave of AI-generated women soldiers has appeared on social media. But more remarkably in April [we saw parades](https://www.rferl.org/a/why-is-iran-parading-pink-weapons-to-coerce-women-into-militancy-says-rights-expert/33736526.html) in which women varyingly wore army uniforms, carried pink rifles, and rode pink army jeeps. Also present [at the parades and more broadly](https://factnameh.substack.com/p/the-evolving-image-of-iranian-women) in a wave of war time online pro regime messaging are unveiled women (something that could get you beaten and arrested just months earlier). Of course it’s hard to prove that any of this is a direct consequence of the AI imagery. The Iranian regime has has used images of armed and unveiled women before especially during times of instability. But there is something suspicious about how cartoonish the pink rifle parades are, in contrast with the austere images of armed women dressed all in black that [you can find from the 90s](https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/iranian-women-holding-ak-47-guns-march-in-tehran-25-news-photo/1234314393) for example. They look like AI slop: extra-Iranian, extra-feminine and extra-militarised. It seems plausible that the previous years AI imagery helped shift both the demand and the tolerance for a new kind of propaganda image, and reality has moved to fill the gap. As reality starts to look more and more like AI slop, how does the slop respond? It seems plausible to think that it will get more and more hyperpalatable. This can happen by a few mechanisms: All this means we can expect new waves of even more attention grabbing, addictive and ridiculous AI generated content which can in turn feed back further into reality itself in a potentially runaway process. Of course this may well hit diminishing returns, negative feedback or hard limits in different domains at different points, but I think we still have a long way to go.