{"id":27254277,"date":"2026-01-01T22:16:30","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T03:16:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kaleidaweb.com\/2026\/?p=27254277"},"modified":"2026-02-17T20:10:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T01:10:24","slug":"ai-is-overrated-and-unnecessary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kaleidaweb.com\/2026\/ai-is-overrated-and-unnecessary\/","title":{"rendered":"AI is overrated and unnecessary"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"et_pb_section_0 et_pb_section et_section_regular et_block_section\"><div class=\"et_pb_row_0 et_pb_row et_pb_equal_columns et_block_row et_pb_row_fullwidth\"><div class=\"et_pb_column_0 et_pb_column et_pb_column_4_4 et-last-child et_block_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough vertical-align\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_0 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_flex_module preset--module--divi-text--default\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p>The folks at Merriam-Webster closed 2025 with a bang\u2014announcing <em>slop<\/em> as the Word of the Year and the release of its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/news\/2025\/11\/18\/merriam-webster-new-collegiate-dictionary\">first new hardback dictionary<\/a> in more than twenty years. The standard-bearer of dictionary-making had chosen, in effect, to take a stand in the real world, while maintaining its digital presence. At kaleidaweb, we did the same, because Artificial Intelligence (AI) is, as its name implies, artificial, and incongruous to intellect.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"et_pb_text_1 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_dark et_pb_module et_flex_module preset--module--divi-text--default\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p><strong>Merriam-Webster defines <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/slop\"><strong><em>slop<\/em><\/strong><\/a><strong> as \u201cdigital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"et_pb_text_2 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_flex_module preset--module--divi-text--default\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p>In 2025, we were inundated with the stuff, from silly videos of talking animals to fabricated videos, deepfakes, fake news, and books filled with synthetic fluff instead of substance. Thanks to what <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2025\/12\/15\/merriam-webster-names-slop-the-word-of-the-year\/\">TechCrunch<\/a> calls \u201cthis new breed of media generator,\u201d such as Sora from OpenAI and Veo from Google Gemini, we now have in our midst \u201cAI-generated books, podcasts, pop songs, TV commercials \u2014 even entire movies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to reporter Lucas Ropek, <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2025\/12\/15\/merriam-webster-names-slop-the-word-of-the-year\/\">who wrote the aforementioned TechCrunch article<\/a>, a study from May 2025 concluded that \u201cnearly 75% of all new web content from the previous month had involved some kind of AI.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"et_pb_text_3 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_dark et_pb_module et_flex_module preset--module--divi-text--default\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><h3>That\u2019s <strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">absurd<\/span><\/strong>.<\/h3>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<h3>That\u2019s <strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">alarming<\/span><\/strong>.<\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>And by now you\u2019re probably wondering where you, your business, and your content stand in this ocean of <strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">oozing slop<\/span><\/strong>.<\/h3>\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"et_pb_text_4 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_flex_module preset--module--divi-text--default\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p>While many in the sea of humanity rode the AI wave last year, one talking cat video at a time, the kaleidaweb team worked steadily to understand the potential dangers of AI not just on your data and intellectual property, but on society, the environment, and the future of human learning, among other topics. We determined that:<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"et_pb_text_5 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_flex_module preset--module--divi-text--default\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><ul>\n<li><em>Machines \u201clearn\u201d by gobbling up content created by humans.<\/em> AI regurgitates that \u201cknowledge\u201d and gobbles more content, this time created by humans who potentially got their information from AI-generated media, with or without knowing it. If an error exists in this cycle of slop, it gets repeated ad infinitum.<\/li>\n<li><em>Once AI gets its teeth into your content, your work is no longer yours.<\/em> Your intellectual property, content, and creations get digested; like a human body, it is used as fuel, only not at all on your behalf. It puts the products of your labor into the slop factory, from which more people and more machines feed. There is no guarantee that the context of your work will stay intact.<\/li>\n<li><em>AI is ruinous to the environment.<\/em> AI <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2025\/12\/24\/the-year-data-centers-went-from-backend-to-center-stage\/\">data centers<\/a> require immense plots of land, vast amounts of water, and pump pollutants back into the environment. Looting Earth\u2019s natural resources to run machines imperils the species of plants and animals (including humans) that rely on them for basic survival. The continued proliferation of these data centers is tipping Earth ever more quickly toward climate catastrophe.<\/li>\n<li><em>Nefarious actors are now creating \u201cghost stores.\u201d <\/em>WIRED <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/pinterst-ai-slop-content\/\">describes this turn<\/a> as \u201can online scam whereby fake websites are created, claiming to sell high-quality products at significant discounts due to closing down.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><em>AI is a bubble. <\/em>Some economic scholars guarantee that it, like other tech-based bubbles, will burst. So far, it isn\u2019t exactly paying off. Pinterest thought AI would \u201caccelerate its fortunes,\u201d \u00a0but the company\u2019s shares \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/11\/04\/pinterest-pins-q3-earnings-report-2025.html\">tanked 20 percent<\/a> in November after its third-quarter earnings and revenue outlook fell short of analysts\u2019 expectations,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/pinterst-ai-slop-content\/\">WIRED reported<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"et_pb_text_6 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_dark et_pb_module et_flex_module preset--module--divi-text--default\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\" data-et-mv-hidden-phone=\"true\"><h3><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/kaleidaweb.com\/2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Anti_AI.svg-600x600-1.png\" width=\"132\" height=\"132\" alt=\"Anti AI\" class=\"wp-image-27254029 alignleft size-medium\" \/>kaleidaweb has implemented the following measures to keep your website away from AI\u2019s reach and to help you stand out from the endless stream of slop:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We turn off or uninstall AI features on mission critical apps and software, if possible.<\/li>\n<li>If it\u2019s not possible to turn off or uninstall these features, we simply ignore them and never use them.<\/li>\n<li>If AI is embedded to a degree that software or an app will not work without it, if a developer has forced AI upon its users, we stop using that software or app.<\/li>\n<li>kaleidaweb has established a firm \u201cNo AI Policy,\u201d than bans AI from being used in any aspect of our work, whether on the code, build, design, and maintenance part of the business or in our auxiliary services, such as copywriting, graphic design, and editing.<\/li>\n<li>We automate routine maintenance work, such as nightly backups and scans, but using proven and tested methods (not AI suggestions) and software created by humans.<\/li>\n<li>Automated tasks are monitored by human oversight.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"et_pb_text_7 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_flex_module preset--module--divi-text--default\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><p>The proliferation of AI has been fast and vast. It <em>literally<\/em> is in everything, and increasingly difficult to get around. Calls to customer service are involved; contact with other tech heads who are devising AI-canceling code is now a part of the job. But these are the steps we are willing to take because kaleidaweb is not in the business of producing slop, and it remains our intention, in the New Year and beyond, to work with <em>humans<\/em> and help them grow their businesses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ll do my best personally and professionally to not empower billionaires and Big Tech,\u201d Dani Shaw, kaleidaweb Founder\/Lead Developer said. \u201cThere are alternatives to AI, as millions of human creatives and coders have used since the first stroke and byte.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"et_pb_text_8 et_pb_text et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_module et_flex_module preset--module--divi-text--default\"><div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\"><h3><strong>Further Reading:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong><br \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/the-data-center-resistance-has-arrived\/\">The Data Center Resistance Has Arrived<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/pinterst-ai-slop-content\/\">Pinterest Users Are Tired of All the AI Slop<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.techspot.com\/news\/108634-data-center-boom-georgia-sparks-water-worries-resident.html\">Data Center Boom in Georgia Sparks Water Worries and Resident\u00a0Backlash<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theregister.com\/2025\/08\/22\/georgia_datacenter_pushback\/\">Georgia Residents Up in Arms Over Mega Data Center<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wbur.org\/news\/2025\/11\/18\/merriam-webster-new-collegiate-dictionary\">Merriam-Webster Goes Old School with First New Hardcover Collegiate Dictionary in 22 Years<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.anildash.com\/2025\/10\/17\/the-majority-ai-view\/\">The Majority AI View<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/ai-bubble-will-burst\/\">AI Is the Bubble to Burst Them All<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/entertainment\/827650\/indie-developers-gen-ai-nexon-arc-raiders?utm_content=buffer471e5&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=bsky.app&amp;utm_campaign=verge_social\">Indie Game Developers Have a New Sales Pitch: Being \u2018AI Free\u2019<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.techpolicy.press\/policymakers-have-to-prepare-now-for-when-the-ai-bubble-bursts\/\">Policymakers Have to Prepare Now for When the AI Bubble Bursts<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.anthropic.com\/news\/disrupting-AI-espionage\">First AI Cyberattack<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2025\/11\/23\/nx-s1-5615410\/ai-bubble-nvidia-openai-revenue-bust-data-centers?utm_term=nprnews&amp;utm_campaign=npr&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=bsky.app\">Here's Why Concerns About an AI Bubble Are Bigger Than Ever<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div><div class=\"et_pb_module et_pb_button_module_wrapper et_pb_button_0_wrapper\"><a class=\"et_pb_button_0 et_pb_button et_pb_bg_layout_dark et_pb_module et_flex_module\" href=\"https:\/\/kaleidaweb.com\/2026\/contact-appointments\/\">Let&#039;s connect and work together.<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The folks at Merriam-Webster closed 2025 with a bang\u2014announcing slop as the Word of the Year and the release of its first new hardback dictionary in more than twenty years. The standard-bearer of dictionary-making had chosen, in effect, to take a stand in the real world, while maintaining its digital presence. At kaleidaweb, we did the same, because Artificial Intelligence (AI) is, as its name implies, artificial, and incongruous to intellect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":27254318,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[349,350,353,354,217,352,179,21,351,226,74],"dipi_cpt_category":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-27254277","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-blog","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-anti-ai","10":"tag-artificial-intelligence","11":"tag-chatgpt","12":"tag-maintenance","13":"tag-no-slop","14":"tag-security","15":"tag-seo","16":"tag-slop","17":"tag-woocommerce","18":"tag-wordpress"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kaleidaweb.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27254277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kaleidaweb.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kaleidaweb.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kaleidaweb.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kaleidaweb.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27254277"}],"version-history":[{"count":41,"href":"https:\/\/kaleidaweb.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27254277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27746145,"href":"https:\/\/kaleidaweb.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27254277\/revisions\/27746145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kaleidaweb.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27254318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kaleidaweb.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27254277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kaleidaweb.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27254277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kaleidaweb.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27254277"},{"taxonomy":"dipi_cpt_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kaleidaweb.com\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dipi_cpt_category?post=27254277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}