Steven Moran
Social Media Editor
Content creators and audiences on social media celebrated after OpenAI announced plans to shut down its controversial AI video platform, Sora.
The shutdown comes months after the app’s launch in November 2025, and its $1 billion deal with Disney in December.
“To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built community around it: thank you.” wrote the Sora team in a March 24 post on X, (formerly Twitter). “What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing.”.
The comments on the post didn’t share that sentiment, instead flooding the replies with “rip bozo” remarks, GIFs and reaction photos mocking the platform’s imminent demise, and celebrating the end of “AI slop.”
What is “AI Slop,” and why does the internet despise it?
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, “AI slop” is defined as digital content of low quality that is usually produced in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.
While this derogatory term is most commonly used for video content, it can also refer to AI artwork created through image generation or AI-generated music.
While some supporters of generative AI tools argue that the technology makes creation more accessible for those with disabilities, or lacking the “natural talents” of artists, social media users despise “AI slop” for reasons such as:
- The sheer amount of AI content on the internet.
- Its lack of quality and emotional depth.
- Its frequent use in scams or deceptive advertising.
- AI companies’ often unlicensed use of intellectual property to train models, raising plagiarism and intellectual property theft concerns.
- Fear that AI will take jobs from humans.
- AI data centers require large amounts of RAM, contributing to shortages and higher prices for computers and video game consoles.
Is Sora’s shutdown really the death of AI slop?
While Sora’s shutdown may lead to a decrease in AI-generated video content, it’s not the only platform capable of producing videos.
Google users can generate short, five-second videos through its Veo program in the Gemini app, and Grok can do the same.
Fortunately, these features are locked behind premium subscriptions and usage limits, so while “AI slop” is not quite dead yet, the internet can still celebrate a significant decline in its presence on social media.
In addition, with OpenAI announcing that plans to add an “adult mode” to ChatGPT have been shelved, and the CEO of Figure announcing the end of its partnership with the company in February, one might question how much longer the godfather of generative AI has left to live.
Did you use AI to write this?
No. The Mesquite has strict policies against the use of generative AI in its articles and considers it a violation of journalistic ethics.
Regrettably, before I transferred to Texas A&M University-San Antonio and developed an interest in journalism, I experimented with generative AI tools in videos for my personal YouTube channel.
At the time, my channel was not monetized, was purely a hobby and I was still experimenting with its identity.
Generative AI was still a relatively new technology at the time, and I thought these AI tools were simply trendy ways to attract views to my content, having no understanding of the ethics surrounding their use.
In hindsight, my views were about the same, or in some cases worse, and I found I was spending more time and effort on lower-quality, less enjoyable content.
Since then, I have abandoned the use of generative AI on my channel, except for a few playful jabs at the technology’s use in advertising or generally low-quality content. I have shifted my focus back to my self-taught voice acting skills, which first made my channel popular when I began posting in 2020.
Though my time using AI tools is something I look back on with embarrassment, it taught me a valuable lesson: you do not need a fancy computer program to make art, videos, or anything of substance. All it takes is a brain and a moderate level of self-respect.
I no longer support the use of generative AI in content creation, nor do I believe the technology is a viable replacement for humans in the workforce. It’s far too inconsistent in quality, and with the amount of mental effort required to make a detailed enough prompt to create even a mediocre result, users are better off just making it themselves.
Most importantly, readers can rest assured that the very real, very human student journalists of A&M-San Antonio report, write and edit every article, video and photo published by The Mesquite.
Art is drawn, sculpted, or painted; books are written and published; movies and TV shows are filmed; and news is reported— not generated.
So rest in peace, Sora. You won’t be missed.
