Christmas adverts from McDonald’s and Coca-Cola to Catly, ARK: Aquatica, and “slop” becomes the 2025 word of the year according to Merriam-Webster – one wouldn’t be blamed for assuming that, by now, everyone has gotten the memo: AI-generated visuals fail to resonate with the general public, and almost inevitably result in a product being labeled “AI slop”, relentlessly mocked online, and often deleted shortly after.
However, that memo apparently failed to reach TIME magazine and Requiem for a Dream director Darren Aronofsky, who chose to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution and the founding of the United States by unveiling a new short-form series highlighting key moments from 1776, with the caveat being that the series in question is almost entirely AI-generated.
