The Download: the case for AI slop, and helping CRISPR fulfill its promise

If I were to locate the moment AI slop broke through into popular consciousness, I'd pick the video of rabbits bouncing on a trampoline that went viral last summer. For many savvy internet users, myself included, it was the first time we were fooled by an AI video, and it ended up spawning a wave of almost identical generated clips. My first reaction was that, broadly speaking, all of this sucked. That's become a familiar refrain, in think pieces and at dinner parties. Everything online is slop now--the internet "enshittified," with AI taking much of the blame. But then friends started sharing AI clips in group chats that were compellingly weird, or funny.