It's amazing how quickly AI (artificial intelligence) has taken over so much of our lives… problem is, it's not always in a good way.

In a nod to this new and somewhat frightening reality, the word "slop" (specifically, AI slop) was named the 2025 "Word of the Year" by both America's Merriam-Webster and Australia's Macquarie dictionaries to describe cheap, low-quality digital works created by AI as a replacement for the "human touch".

One of our loyal readers recently relayed a cautionary tale (with a happy ending!) about the explosion of AI, the proliferation of "slop" in so many fields of administration, and the shortcomings of this new humanity-free automated business model.

"Sharing a recent experience of mine, may be of help to some of your readers," the long-time subscriber told this masthead.

"I received my latest annual home and contents insurance renewal, and it was almost $2800, up about 15 per cent on the previous year.

"I have been loyal to the same well-known insurer for many years. I noted the home value was estimated at $805,000 and the contents $298,000, which I felt was excessive.

"I decided to contact my insurer and talk to someone to see if there was some way I could reduce the cost by adjusting my cover.

"I emailed my insurer, only to receive what appeared to be a detailed AI response. I emailed back explaining my position and asked if someone could call me to discuss.

"Despite my repeated requests to talk to a person, all I received was repeated lengthy and unhelpful emails, all appearing to be AI-generated, the last one included this response: 'Please note that we do not make outbound phone calls. However, we can certainly assist you via email and will do our best to address any questions or concerns you may have regarding your renewal premium.'

"By this stage, I'd then had enough and decided to shop around. After seeking advice from friends, I got quotes from two other well-known insurers.

"I set my home value at $600,000 and contents at $150,000, both more than reasonable to cover me.

"One quote was a tick over $2000, the second was just under $1100! The second company also had a current 30 per cent off the first year's premium promotion going."

Like the so-called wonders of 3-D television, the paperless office, the Segway, the microwave oven, the video store, and Kindle, the AI office revolution may in time prove to be not so much a replacement for the human touch, but just another tool to help us do our jobs better.