Too Much AI
It's really not the most terrible time of the year.
Why This?
Because I had started to feel like people were going too far with AI generated stuff even before I saw the failed McDonalds Christmas-time commercial.
This time it happened with McDonalds, one of the most recognisable brands in the world (and it went much worse for them than for Coca Cola’s all-animals Holidays Are Coming commercial).
The McDonalds AI ad was so bad that even one of the “AI actors” of the commercial issued a statement to complain and roast the original thing. Yes, that bad.
This led to backlash of all sorts, from everyone Christmas loving folk to marketing experts, so McDonalds pulled the commercial. But can you really “pull” anything away anymore from the internet? I guess not, as the above links show.
But why did it fail so hard?
My two cents: it didn’t fail because of the technology.
It failed because human judgement on meaning and context went missing.
No matter how good technology is at this moment, it cannot replace that.
AI can imitate form - at scale, even - but it still struggles with cultural intuition (to say the least). And the team that did this ad was obviously struggling too.
See, the differences between AI and humans are increasingly smaller :)
Why this matters beyond McDonalds and Coca Cola?
Well, because if they can do it, anyone can. If McDonald’s, one of the most carefully engineered brands on Earth, can release an AI-generated video that is so bad, you can imagine others that don’t have this type of brand recognition or pressure.
It was a governance failure from both McDonalds and the company that produced the thing.
At the end of the day, AI produced something that looked ok (I’m not going into the cinematography here), but the meaning was off. Of course audiences noticed immediately.
We’re living the democratisation of AI slop, with the full support of humans with low interest for the consequences of their actions.
Real Life
AI Slop refers to inferior content created by AI models – such as texts that give the wrong information, low-quality videos, or generic formulations. Such “slop” can lower the overall quality of information and increase mistrust, according to DW.
The term Slopaganda (from “slop” and “propaganda”) is the strategic use of AI-generated content to influence public debate or manipulate people – for example, by inflaming divisions by spreading low-quality and emotionally charged content on a massive scale.
Is McDonalds ad also slopaganda? Let me know what you think in the comments.
The Guardian published an analysis in July 2025 examining how AI slop is taking over YouTube’s fastest-growing channels. The journalists found that nine out of the top 100 fastest-growing channels feature AI-generated content like zombie football and cat soap operas.
The ease of generating content with AI enables people to submit low-quality articles to publications. Clarkesworld, an online science fiction magazine that accepts user submissions and pays contributors, stopped taking new submissionsin 2024 because of the flood of AI-generated writing it was getting.
These aren’t the only places where this happens — even Wikipedia is dealing with AI-generated low-quality content that strains its entire community moderation system. If the organization is not successful in removing it, a key information resource people depend on is at risk.
Luckily, there are a few ways you can determine whether what you are looking at is real or an extremely convincing fake.
Check for watermarks
Listen for garbled speech
Check the metadata
Consider the content’s plausibility and source
Remain vigilant.
Clarity Point
McDonald’s ad reminds us that brand trust is fragile that and AI can accelerates both success and failures.
In order to really be useful and not bring more damage than growth, AI development needs governance. There are people out there that are specialised in this, and they can help companies avoid “McDonalds moments”.
I personally have very deep appreciation for the work of photographers, videographers and of all creative artists. I would not use AI-generated visual content unless I need to make a point.
But the world is currently heading into this direction, and, therefore, we must learn to make the best of it.
Guardrails are needed, in the form of legislation and education.
I wouldn’t want to see the world turn into that movie, Idiocracy.
One Beautiful Image from Switzerland
This is why I’m late with this week’s newsletter. It has nothing to do with AI, but with real life and friends. Thank you, guys!
Before You Go:
It’s a sunny day today in my side of town (well, it’s a small town, so it’s sunny everywhere), and I woke up feeling the pressure of being late with the newsletter as if it were the end of the world.
If you ever feel the same, just remember that it’s actually not the end of the world, no matter how bad it may seem.
You can always watch some funny cat-AI-slop-videos to cheer yourself up. That’s what visually gen-AI is actually good for ;)
Do you agree? Do you not agree?
Please also take a look at some people I follow here. They are so cool and have balanced approaches to writing, which I really appreciate:
In English:
ToxSec AI - Artificial Intelligence Security
In Romanian:
…and others.
Until next time, thank you for your attention to this matter ;)
Have a great week ahead,
Alex
The future might not seem so bright right now, but we can work together to make it brighter. If you want to stay with me on the journey of the INTEGRATOR newsletter, you’re always welcome here.
Do you know someone who could find this interesting and contribute to the discussion?
…and start the conversation :)
Slopaganda! Had not heard that one. Not only do I agree, but I'm optimistic that the AI Slopfest is just more of an "I've got a new toy and it's the shiny object of the moment" and then it wears off, people get tired of the slop and the pendulum swings back to originality with more human creativity than AI. In the meantime, I think we are stuck with the "cabbage patch doll" or "Squishmallows" of 2025 that is AI Slop. (what the heck is a squishmallow? had to go look them up...)
I’ve only just seen this post, belated thank you for the shout out! 💚