WSJ Tech News Briefing · Saturday, August 1, 2026
The increasing prevalence of AI-generated content, from images to videos, is making it difficult to distinguish between real and fake information. This inundation of 'AI slop' can lead to user disengagement and a breakdown of trust in media, impacting everything from personal news consumption to larger societal issues.
“And I asked him, is there any way to tell how much AI generated imagery and video is out there? Is there a way to know if the person you're talking to is a bot or not? And he said, no.”
“The inundation of AI slop also risks having us not react at all. We're in this cycle of generating more and more content, both good and bad, and it's making it harder and harder for us to distinguish what's real and what's fake.”
“And that impact is that we don't know who or what to trust anymore.”