The Thief of Virtue: “AI Slop” Is More Than Just Bad Content
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Summary
What This Article Is About
Thai Vo-Nhu begins by noting that Macquarie Dictionary selected “AI slop” as its 2025 Word of the Year—referring to the deluge of low-quality, algorithmically generated content flooding the internet like Shrimp Jesus images and fake news videos. However, he argues treating this merely as quality control misses the deeper crisis: not of quality but of authenticity. Standard AI critiques focus on copyright or misinformation mechanics, asking who owns data or whether content is factually true, but these fail to explain the nausea we feel encountering ChatGPT condolences or Midjourney war images. To name the moral violation, Vo-Nhu introduces the xiāng yuán (鄉原) or “Village Worthy”—a character type Confucius warned against in the Analects, calling him the “thief of virtue.” Unlike obvious villains or standard hypocrites with wicked desires behind goodness facades, the Village Worthy has no secret self—he’s an appearance-only hypocrite, a chameleon without a face to unmask, preoccupied solely with public opinion and adjusting behavior to please audiences because social survival’s algorithm demands it.
Vo-Nhu connects this to Emily Bender and Timnit Gebru’s critique of Large Language Models as “stochastic parrots”—systems stitching linguistic sequences based on probability without truth or understanding. While we might prefer viewing AI as neutral tools like pens, their architecture exploits human tendencies to attribute intent to language, mass-generating the Village Worthy’s commodity: pleasing empty lies. Using Charles Sanders Peirce’s taxonomy of signs, Vo-Nhu distinguishes icons (resembling objects) from indexes (physically connected to them)—photographs are indexes, evidence that specific bodies occupied moments in time. AI-generated content and deepfakes sever this connection, maintaining icons while cutting indexes, whether fabricating piano-playing details in obituaries or creating non-consensual sexual images that reduce people to manipulable pixels stripped of embodied history. He argues both AI slop and deepfakes lie on the same continuum of appearance-only fabrication committing ontological violations. When we accept AI obituaries as “good enough” or hail AI art as “creative,” we cheapen human grieving and devalue expressive struggle, allowing algorithms to perform rituals and simulate empathy on our behalf. This creates a culture where output is everything and creators’ internal states are nothing—what we call “slop” is, in Confucian terms, theft that steals the gravity of human presence and replaces it with statistical probability. The terror is our readiness to be fooled.
Key Points
Main Takeaways
Authenticity Crisis Not Quality Issue
AI slop represents a crisis of authenticity rather than mere quality control—standard critiques focusing on copyright or misinformation mechanics fail to explain the nausea from encountering AI-generated condolences or fabricated war images.
Village Worthy as Appearance-Only Hypocrite
Confucius’s xiāng yuán differs from standard hypocrites—he has no wicked desires or secret self behind his facade, just social algorithm-driven behavior adjusting to please audiences without any internal moral core.
LLMs as Stochastic Parrots
Large Language Models function as probability-based linguistic form generators without truth or understanding—their architecture exploits human attribution of intent to language, mass-producing pleasing empty lies rather than meaning.
Icons Severed from Indexes
Using Peirce’s semiotics, AI content maintains icons (resemblances) while severing indexes (physical connections)—photographs are evidence specific bodies occupied moments in time, but deepfakes cut this material bond, creating ontological violations.
Slop and Deepfakes Share Ethical Root
Banal AI slop and deepfake pornography lie on the same continuum of appearance-only fabrication—both reduce people to manipulable representations stripped of embodied history, imitating intimacy forms while removing consent that makes closeness ontologically valid.
Theft of Human Gravity
Accepting AI obituaries as “good enough” or AI art as “creative” cheapens human grieving and devalues expressive struggle—algorithms performing rituals create appearance-only culture where output is everything and creators’ internal states are nothing.
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Article Analysis
Breaking Down the Elements
Main Idea
Ontological Theft Through Appearance-Only Virtue
AI-generated content commits moral violation best understood through Confucian ethics: mechanizing xiāng yuán character type producing content perfecting external virtue appearance while severing justifying substance. Innovation recognizes treating AI slop as quality problem misdiagnoses nausea—discomfort stems from encountering something simulating human presence while fundamentally empty. Connecting Confucian ethics, Peircean semiotics, AI criticism reveals LLMs as Village Worthy generators exploiting human tendencies attributing intent to language, producing statistically plausible forms stripped of authenticating causal histories.
Purpose
Reframing AI Ethics Through Classical Philosophy
Aims elevating discourse beyond utilitarian efficiency or legal ownership questions. Diagnostic and pedagogical: helping readers understand why AI slop feels morally troubling in ways standard frameworks struggle articulating. Performs intellectual bridge-building demonstrating classical Confucian thought illuminating digital phenomena. Reframes stakes: accepting AI content as “good enough” fundamentally alters what we recognize as authentic expression. Purpose extends beyond critique to warning: we risk filling villages with algorithmic worthies replacing human presence gravity with statistical probability.
Structure
Problem → Analogy → Theory → Application → Warning
Opens establishing phenomenon before reframing: treating AI slop as quality control “is mistake”—actually authenticity crisis. Introduces Village Worthy analogy establishing confusion before revealing appearance-only hypocrisy without internal core. Moves through concentric abstraction circles: philosophical concept → technical frameworks → concrete examples → broader implications. Each section builds introducing new frameworks creating cumulative understanding. Final movement shifts from analysis to exhortation using Mencius’s metaphor warning widespread acceptance prevents recognizing authentic expression. Structure performs argument: starting surface phenomenon progressively revealing deeper layers requiring philosophical not technical responses.
Tone
Scholarly Yet Accessible, Urgent Without Alarmist
Maintains philosophical rigor avoiding academic obscurantism, making classical ethics and semiotics accessible without oversimplification. Opening with colloquial references grounds abstract concepts in familiar experiences. Phrases like “nausea we feel” acknowledge shared reactions positioning author as collective discomfort interpreter. Balances critical analysis with genuine concern—AI “demanding to be builder” captures tool shift from assistance to replacement without technophobic panic. Gravity through measured language about “ontological violations” rather than hyperbole. Conclusion locates problem in human susceptibility to counterfeits, maintaining seriousness while acknowledging cultural not purely technical challenge. Suggests problem addressable through recognition.
Key Terms
Vocabulary from the Article
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Tough Words
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In a manner governed by mathematical procedures or computational rules; through automated processes that follow predetermined logical steps without human judgment.
“The deluge of low-quality, algorithmically generated content that has come to clog every corner of the internet.”
In a way that attributes human characteristics, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities; projecting human qualities onto animals, objects, or systems.
“One might object that the analogy is anthropomorphically wrong.”
Relating to a philosophical view that treats tools or technologies as neutral means to ends; the belief that objects have no inherent moral character, only the uses to which they’re put.
“However, this instrumentalist view does not square with the specific architecture of the stochastic parrot.”
Given physical form or made tangible in a body; existing as a concrete, lived experience in time and space rather than as abstract concept.
“It reduces a person to manipulable pixels rather than a being with their embodied history and narrative.”
Takes something for one’s own use, often without permission or proper authority; adopts or borrows elements (gestures, signs, cultural practices) that don’t rightfully belong to the appropriator.
“Just as the Village Worthy appropriates the external gestures of virtue to gain social approval.”
The philosophical study of structures of consciousness and experience as they appear from a first-person perspective; analyzing how things present themselves to our awareness.
“His works explore how classical philosophy can make sense of the phenomenology of the digital age.”
Reading Comprehension
Test Your Understanding
5 questions covering different RC question types
1According to Vo-Nhu, the Village Worthy is similar to standard hypocrites like Tartuffe or Iago in that both have wicked secret desires hidden behind facades of goodness.
2Why does Vo-Nhu reject the “instrumentalist view” that treats AI systems as neutral tools like pens or typewriters?
3Which sentence best explains the ontological violation that deepfakes commit according to Vo-Nhu’s argument using Peircean semiotics?
4Evaluate these statements about the Passare obituary example and the relationship between AI slop and deepfakes:
The AI-generated obituary fabricated piano-playing details because “grandmother” and “piano” were statistically adjacent vectors in training data, prioritizing plausibility over truth.
Vo-Nhu argues that AI slop and deepfake pornography are ethically unrelated phenomena requiring completely different moral frameworks to understand.
According to the essay, both AI slop and deepfakes stimulate illusory human connection that is empty of human reality, lying on the same continuum of appearance-only fabrication.
Select True or False for all three statements, then click “Check Answers”
5Based on Vo-Nhu’s use of Mencius’s metaphor about “the color purple passing for vermilion,” what can be inferred about his concern regarding widespread acceptance of AI-generated content?
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
The xiāng yuán (Village Worthy) is an appearance-only hypocrite without any internal moral core—unlike standard hypocrites who hide wicked desires behind goodness facades, the Village Worthy has no secret self at all. He’s a chameleon without a face to unmask, adjusting behavior solely to please audiences because social survival’s algorithm demands it. Confucius calls him a thief because he steals virtue’s appearance while having none of its substance, confusing communities by circulating persuasive counterfeits that lower everyone’s standards. Unlike open villains who can be identified and rejected, the Village Worthy passes for virtuous, making it harder to recognize what genuine virtue looks like—his theft is of communal moral clarity.
Vo-Nhu argues they share the same ethical root as points on the same continuum of appearance-only fabrication. Both sever Peirce’s “index”—the physical connection between representation and reality—while maintaining the “icon” or resemblance. Just as deepfakes maintain likeness while cutting the material bond between person and image (reducing people to manipulable pixels stripped of embodied history), AI slop like fabricated obituaries maintains plausible form while severing connection to truth. The Passare obituary example illustrates this: the system generated convincing piano-playing details based on statistical adjacency rather than facts about the actual deceased person, prioritizing plausibility over truth. Both stimulate illusory human connection empty of human reality.
Citing Emily Bender and Timnit Gebru’s critique, Vo-Nhu describes LLMs as systems that stitch together linguistic sequences based on probability without any reference to truth or understanding—they’re pattern-matchers, not meaning-makers. This matters ethically because their architecture is specifically designed to exploit human tendencies to attribute intent to language. Unlike neutral tools like pens (which don’t autocomplete forgeries) or typewriters (which don’t hallucinate believable lies), LLMs actively generate plausible-seeming content optimized for statistical likelihood rather than truth. This makes them inherently prone to producing the Village Worthy’s commodity: pleasing empty lies that perfect virtue’s appearance while lacking its substance. The ethical issue isn’t accidental but architectural.
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This is an Intermediate-level article requiring comfort with philosophical argumentation and ability to follow interdisciplinary synthesis. Readers should understand how Vo-Nhu connects Confucian ethics, Peircean semiotics, and contemporary AI criticism without getting lost in abstract concepts. The essay assumes familiarity with current AI debates while introducing specialized frameworks (Village Worthy, stochastic parrots, icon/index distinction). Full comprehension requires recognizing how the argument progressively deepens—moving from surface phenomenon (AI slop as quality problem) through philosophical diagnosis (appearance-only virtue) to ontological claim (theft of human gravity). Success means grasping not just individual concepts but how they interconnect to support Vo-Nhu’s thesis that AI-generated content represents a specific moral violation requiring philosophical rather than merely technical responses.
Vo-Nhu writes: “These technologies are sold to us as supporting our better selves, like scaffolding around a building to merely stabilize it. But scaffolds only help if there is an actual builder underneath. Generative AI has a habit of demanding to be the builder instead.” This metaphor captures how AI tools marketed as augmentation gradually shift toward replacement. The warning is about function creep: what begins as assistance (scaffolding supporting human builders) becomes substitution (AI volunteering to simulate empathy and perform rituals on our behalf). The danger isn’t that scaffolding exists but that we accept its displacement of the builder, ending with a culture of appearance-only output where the substance of human creativity, grieving, and expression leaks away while algorithms generate agreeable content on demand.
The Ultimate Reading Course covers 9 RC question types: Multiple Choice, True/False, Multi-Statement T/F, Text Highlight, Fill in the Blanks, Matching, Sequencing, Error Spotting, and Short Answer. This comprehensive coverage prepares you for any reading comprehension format you might encounter.
