Fighting Back Against AI “Slop”

NewsGuild-CWA members kicked off December with a national AI Week of Action to push back against the growing use of artificial intelligence that undermines trust in the news. Through the “News, Not Slop” campaign, journalists made it clear that AI must support news work and not replace it.

The week began with the announcement of a landmark arbitration win by POLITICO journalists over the company’s unilateral rollout of AI tools, one of the first major labor rulings in the country enforcing AI protections in a union contract.

During the week, the NewsGuild-CWA launched NewsNotSlop.org, hosted a national town hall, and took action with rallies and flyering to bring more readers and members into the fight for AI protections in Guild contracts.

Last Friday, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to try to stop state legislators from regulating AI to protect our jobs and our privacy. “American workers have been clear: workers impacted by technology must guide how it is implemented. This executive order violates the will of the American people,” CWA said in a statement. “For AI to serve working people, we must have a strong voice in how it is developed and used. Together, we will continue to fight to build a future where technology enhances human potential, supports good jobs, and strengthens our communities.”

“Slop” earned a distinguished honor this year, being named Merriam-Webster’s 2025 Word of the Year. “Like slime, sludge, and muck, slop has the wet sound of something you don’t want to touch. Slop oozes into everything,” Merriam-Webster said in its announcement. We could not agree more.

Keep AI slop out of our news. Stand with journalists and sign the News, Not Slop petition here.

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This post originally appeared on cwa-union.org.