TLDR: Despite a significant increase in spending on generative AI content by marketers, new research reveals a growing consumer aversion to “AI slop”—low-quality, mass-produced AI content. While marketers are boosting AI budgets for efficiency, consumer preference for AI-generated content has plummeted, leading to warnings of a potential backlash and a credibility crisis in the industry. Google has also updated its spam policies to penalize low-quality AI content.
Marketers are being cautioned against a looming consumer backlash as their investment in generative AI (GenAI) content continues to surge, potentially leading to an influx of “AI slop” in the digital landscape. Recent independent research by global creator-first social agency Billion Dollar Boy indicates a significant disconnect between marketer enthusiasm and consumer preference for AI-generated material.
The study reveals that a striking four in five (79%) marketers have increased their expenditure on GenAI content over the past year. Furthermore, three-quarters (76%) of marketers anticipate that AI will drive an increase in total creator economy ad spend in the coming year, marking an accelerating shift towards AI-powered creator marketing. The perceived efficiency gains are a major draw, with 81% of marketers agreeing that GenAI has made creator collaborations more cost-efficient. Many marketers (73%) even believe AI-assisted content outperforms human-only work.
However, this aggressive adoption by marketers contrasts sharply with evolving consumer sentiment. The research highlights that only 26% of consumers now prefer AI-generated content over human-created content, a substantial drop from 60% in 2023. This decline is largely attributed to the rise of “AI slop”—content perceived as uninspired, repetitive, unlabeled, and poorly conceived. Consumers are not rejecting AI outright, but rather its misuse in churning out low-quality output.
Thomas Walters, Chief Innovation Officer at Billion Dollar Boy, emphasized this point, stating, “Our research shows consumers continue to recognize and appreciate the capacity of well-considered and integrated GenAI applications to improve the quality and diversity of creator content and a growing rejection of poorly produced content.” He noted that while the novelty of generative AI content has worn off, creators utilizing GenAI effectively are still reporting increased content performance.
Beyond consumer sentiment, regulatory bodies are also taking action. Google updated its spam policies in 2025 to specifically target AI content that manipulates search rankings or fails to meet quality standards. This crackdown has forced marketing agencies to re-evaluate their strategies, with some hiring new roles like Vice President of AI to oversee “human+ AI-powered content engines” and ensure quality control. Brands that relied on AI content farms are reportedly facing manual actions, downranking, and deindexation.
The industry is also grappling with an “efficiency divide” and “Pilot Purgatory.” While 82% of marketers use AI for campaigns, most remain stuck in experimental phases, failing to scale AI transformation across their enterprises. A majority (61%) primarily use AI at an individual level rather than adopting collaborative platforms. This inability to move beyond initial experimentation hinders the full realization of AI’s benefits, despite AI users being four times more likely to keep up with content demand.
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Consumers are also becoming more adept at identifying AI-generated content, recognizing it in approximately 50% of cases, with US citizens showing slightly higher detection rates. Attitudes towards AI content are also strongly age-dependent, with younger demographics showing a slight preference for human-generated content. This evolving landscape underscores the critical need for marketers to prioritize quality, transparency, and strategic integration of AI to avoid alienating consumers and falling afoul of platform guidelines.
