The Slop Report - September 24, 2026
Today: Bad bot traffic is growing 9 times faster than human…; Ask HN: I just talked to an AI-obsessed client, and I…; Meta Unveils 3 Smart Glasses With Built-In A.I.
Your daily digest of AI-generated content news from around the web. All signal, no slop.
1. Bad bot traffic is growing 9 times faster than human web traffic
Fast Company Tech - · Sep 23
Malicious bots are growing at a startling pace as AI continues to expand. A new report from DataDome finds that from July 2025 to June of this year, bad automated traffic grew 124%. That’s nine times faster than human traffic growth during that period. AI traffic, meanwhile, increased more tha
2. Ask HN: I just talked to an AI-obsessed client, and I need a shower afterwards
Hacker News - · Sep 24
Just to preface, this isn't the typical "Am I being replaced by vibe coding" post.<p>I just had a talk with one of my first ongoing clients, who sort of helped me kickstart my freelancing "career". He is one of those people who has a broad understanding of the tech out there
3. Meta Unveils 3 Smart Glasses With Built-In A.I.
NY Times Tech - · Sep 24
Artificial intelligence again dominated the company’s annual developer conference, as Mark Zuckerberg doubled down on how the technology can empower people.
4. Mark Zuckerberg predicts Muse will become a “personal superintelligence” for billions.
Axios - · Sep 24
Meta on Wednesday debuted “Muse Charm,” a new, keychain-sized AI handheld device it will use to bring its viral Muse assistant to the masses. Why it matters: Meta’s has raced ahead of OpenAI , Apple and other companies that are racing to build a new crop of small AI devices, revving up the massive m
5. America’s A.I. Leaders Warn U.N. of Possible Peril Absent a Global Response
NY Times Tech - · Sep 23
Sam Altman of OpenAI and Dario Amodei of Anthropic told the Security Council that international cooperation was needed to ensure that A.I. remains under human control.
6. Judge tosses Trump’s lawsuit against Des Moines Register
Axios - · Sep 23
A district judge tossed an election interference lawsuit by President Trump against the Des Moines Register, parent company USA Today Co. (formerly Gannett) and pollster Ann Selzer , rejecting claims that its inaccurate pre-election poll amounted to consumer fraud. Why it matters : The dismissal is
7. Google DeepMind’s Ayoub says companies can fence AI in, like banks did
The Next Web - · Sep 23
Companies cannot fully govern AI systems, but they can build a fixed fence around them, Google DeepMind’s Kareem Ayoub said. He pointed to banks in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They put trading algorithms inside fixed rules they could check. Ayoub, DeepMind’s vice president of AI technical strate
8. US, Chinese visions for AI regulation differ sharply at UN meeting
Politico Technology - · Sep 23
President Donald Trump vowed to stand against global AI security efforts at the U.N. this week, amid growing calls for world leaders to take action.
9. At U.N., tech leaders urge global effort to limit AI’s risk to humanity
Washington Post Tech - · Sep 23
OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei called for nations to work together on regulations as fears about the technology’s capabilities grow.
10. US rejects global AI governance at UN Security Council
The Next Web - · Sep 23
The United States is rejecting any global governance of advanced AI, telling the UN Security Council in New York today that each country should regulate the technology itself. Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, delivers the US statement after the m
11. “We have a choice”: AI leaders sound alarm at UN
Axios - · Sep 23
Executives from leading artificial intelligence organizations urged global cooperation Wednesday to address risks from increasingly autonomous AI systems during a UN Security Council meeting. The big picture: AI capabilities are advancing faster than governments are developing safeguards, raising co
12. Yahoo CEO says micropayments will never be enough for publishers
The Next Web - · Sep 23
Yahoo will keep its AI answer engine Scout full of links back to publishers, CEO Jim Lanzone said on Wednesday. He spoke on stage at HumanX in Amsterdam. He also said micropayments from AI companies will never pay publishers enough. “The large language models effectively photocopied the entire inter
13. Mop the slop from your LinkedIn feed with a new open-source Chrome extension
The Register - · Sep 23
Jev-powered Slop Mop demonstrates another great use case for probabilistic, non-chatty AI model
14. Dario Amodei asks UN Security Council to back a ban on AI bioweapons
The Next Web - · Sep 23
Dario Amodei is asking the UN Security Council to start with narrow agreements on AI, such as a ban on using it to make biological weapons. Speaking to the Council via video link today, the Anthropic chief executive calls AI the most important global security issue. Amodei is the third briefer at th
15. ‘I miss old Google’: readers tell us how they search the internet in the age of AI
The Guardian Tech - · Sep 23
A feature called AI Overviews has been a profound change, and the browsing habits of billions of people are shifting Google has put artificial intelligence at the front and center of its search bar. The most-visited site on the internet still shows the same list of links to users, but they have to s
16. Exclusive: Thune believes Trump is open on AI guardrails despite public defiance
Axios - · Sep 23
Senate Majority Leader John Thune says he doesn’t believe President Trump is “really dug in” against guardrails for AI , despite Trump’s public campaign against restricting the technology. Why it matters: Thune told Axios he spoke privately with Trump as the AI issue was getting “pretty hot” a few w
17. Dems grapple with how to pace the AI race
Axios - · Sep 23
The left’s push to rein in AI is taking shape on two fronts: slowing advanced development at home, and weakening China’s progress abroad. Why it matters: The nation is locked in a moment of mass anxiety about runaway AI, but the range of views on how to regulate it are as varied as the what-ifs abou
18. The old cybersecurity model is breaking
TechCrunch - · Sep 23
As concern over AI safety and rogue agents continue to make headlines, it’s no surprise that cybersecurity stocks are rising, or that investors are pouring massive amounts of capital into startups trying to build the next generation of security for an AI-native world. We’re even seeing com
19. Even Americans who use AI every day are worried about it
TechCrunch AI - · Sep 23
The report suggests that greater exposure will not resolve the unease around the technology, nor reduce public support for AI regulation.
20. Andreessen Horowitz Launches AI/Company-Building School As a College Alternative
Slashdot - · Sep 23
TechCrunch quipped it was like if startup school Y Combinator and Peter Thiel’s build-a-company- instead of-college Fellowship Program had a baby. Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is investing $35 million to launch a private school in San Francisco “aimed at turning high school
21. Trump is arguing about AI’s name as China is writing the rules
Fast Company Tech - · Sep 23
What’s the biggest issue in AI at the minute? Is it supposedly runaway models slipping out of their sandboxes in order to hack and collude with one another—actions that are prompting calls for air accident investigator-style bodies to keep AI in check? Is it the yo-yoing stock markets as a result of
22. 4 AI doomsday scenarios that could threaten humanity, according to researchers
Fast Company Tech - · Sep 23
For years, artificial intelligence researchers have warned of ways the technology could wipe out humanity : AI bots could design an unstoppable disease, unleash a nuclear war, or transform all of Earth into paper clip factories, as one thought experiment goes. Debates inside the AI industry and beyo
23. YouTube will let you build your own algorithm with AI
TechCrunch AI - · Sep 23
YouTube’s new custom feeds let users describe the videos they want to see in their own words, then use Gemini to build a personalized feed around the request.
24. YouTube is getting in on the microdrama craze
Fast Company Tech - · Sep 23
Heartbreak, hormones and irresistible cliffhangers: Microdramas, which combine short, snackable episodes optimized for vertical viewing with telenovela-style storytelling, have taken the internet by storm in recent years. Now, YouTube wants in on the trend. The Google-owned video service is starting
25. Ask HN: Declarative vs. Imperative
Hacker News - · Sep 23
I started hacking with TRS-80 Basic long ago. By the time I went pro in my early 20's, I had already developed a strong preference for declarative systems, so much so that I would from time to time create one if it made the solution at hand more robust. Having studied Physics instead of CompS
25 stories sourced from Axios, Fast Company Tech, Hacker News, NY Times Tech, Politico Technology, Slashdot, TechCrunch, TechCrunch AI, The Guardian Tech, The Next Web, The Register, Washington Post Tech. The Slop Report is published daily. Subscribe via RSS.