Want to be respected by a Gen-Z audience? Don’t use AI.

If you’ve been on the internet at all in the last year, you’ve probably seen AI generated content. And in the comments of that content you’ve probably seen a reoccurring word used to describe it: slop. 

As of late, the term “slop” has been reassigned to pretty much exclusively refer to AI generated content. In 2025, Merriam-Webster even chose it as their word of the year. 

In the eyes of my generation, slop captures the essence of what generative AI does; chewing up original work and spitting out something it claims to be “new”. 

I’ve seen a lot of older people, especially company execs, lean into generating AI content. Even Disney, a company notorious for their strict copyright rules has embraced the trend. But Gen Z isn’t buying it. Why?

For Gen Z, AI is our direct competitor. 

For high level individuals in the entertainment industry, generative AI provides a cheap alternative to hiring low-level employees. But for Gen Z artists looking to get started in the industry, we’ve watched as entry level jobs are stripped away and replaced with AI. AI that is sometimes trained on our own work without compensation. Entry level jobs allow industry members to learn the tricks of their trade in a way that educational environments could never replicate. Without the experience of these entry level jobs, how are we supposed to advance our careers? And what will happen to our industry once the older generation ages out? Who will replace them? 

Generative AI makes your project look lazy. 

People in my generation have been on the internet since before they could read. I don’t remember a life without Google, Email, or Facebook. Because of this, Gen Z has a heightened internet literacy compared to other generations.  (My grandparents are constantly sending me AI generated sob stories on Facebook.) But Gen Z can largely tell when content is AI generated. We know how cheap and easy AI content is to make, many of us have experimented with it ourselves. Knowing that content can be generated with the push of a button makes it much less compelling, especially if you’re trying to convince us to engage with it. The mindset comes down to; if you couldn’t be bothered to make your own content, why should I be bothered to engage with it.

And the most concerning issue, using Generative AI in your advertising loses the trust of customers. 

Sites like Etsy are now flooded with AI generated images of products, which, of course, look nothing like what you receive in the mail. AI generated ads have become synonymous with scams. It begs the question, why won’t you show me the real product? Is there even a real product? (As this tik-toker shows, the answer is usually no.)

What are your thoughts on generative AI? Before you comment, take a moment to take this AI detection quiz  and see if you can tell the difference between real and generated images. The outcome might surprise you.