Anti AI Slop

Anti AI Slop

The guardrail that governs production quality — writing and assembling research outputs so slop never appears. Detection is the companion ai-slop-audit skill. Truthfulness is source-evaluation/references/evidence-discipline.md; this skill is its quality counterpart: a report can be fully sourced and still read as slop (generic, voiceless, template-uniform). Both gates must pass.

Real-time application (a LIVE constraint, not only a final gate)

Apply these rules continuously, as you write — to every sentence, table, finding, and slide at the moment it is drafted, not in one cleanup pass at the end. The moment you reach for a banned word, a generic placeholder, an unverified figure, or a template default, correct it in place. The ship-gate checklist below is the final confirmation, not the first time these rules are consulted.

What "AI slop" is (so you know what you are preventing)

Low-quality content produced in quantity by generative AI and pushed at people who did not ask for it (Merriam-Webster 2025 Word of the Year, verified). Three diagnostic properties (Kommers et al., "Why Slop Matters", arXiv 2601.06060, verified): superficial competence, asymmetric effort, mass producibility. The human tell named in every domain studied: absence of intent. A research output beats slop by re-internalising effort — specificity, verification, and authored judgement — before it reaches the reader.

The seven universal guardrails (apply to EVERY output)

Machine-error editorial gate

Apply the shared Machine-Error Editorial Gate while drafting. For every sentence and paragraph, check ME1-7: semantic repetition, artificial symmetry, over-explanation, inflated significance, generic examples, rhetorical mannerisms, and insight-shaped filler. Ask what new information, evidence, judgement, decision, constraint, or instruction the unit contributes. If there is no delta, merge or cut it. Record a functional exception when repetition is required for legal precision, accessibility, traceability, controlled vocabulary, or safe operation.

Impeccable-derived overlay

Apply the shared AS1-AS7 overlay when the output includes an interface, website, presentation, rendered document, or visual system. For web development, websites, and design, use all seven checks: default convergence, unearned hierarchy, module monoculture, decorative attention, placeholder material, copy tells, and polish-covered delivery debt. Other outputs use only applicable checks and mark unavailable or non-applicable visual evidence explicitly.

Visual no-ship choices for those visual scopes are purple gradients, glassmorphism, neon glow, AI-beige defaults, decorative editorial scaffolding, and decorative motion. Functional states, accessibility affordances, and required data encodings need a recorded task reason; they are not decorative exceptions by implication. AS1-AS7 coverage is explicit: AS2, AS3, AS4, AS5, and AS7 are not_applicable for a text-only research output, while visual or rendered deliverables require the full overlay. AS6 remains applicable to every human-facing research output: remove recurring buzzword, em-dash, aphoristic, or theatrical cadence.

Banned / high-risk vocabulary (the lexical tells)

Over-produced by LLMs (FSU/COLING-2025; PubMed "delve" +400%, verified). Allowed only when genuinely the precise term, never as default register.

• Words: delve, tapestry, realm, landscape (as metaphor), navigate (as metaphor), leverage, foster, harness, synergy, embark, robust, vibrant, holistic, seamless, intricate, commendable, meticulous, pivotal, underscore, testament, resonate, elevate, paramount, multifaceted.
• Phrases: "in today's fast-paced world", "in the ever-evolving landscape of", "it is important to note that", "let's dive in", "at the end of the day", "in conclusion", "studies show" (without a named study).
• Constructions: the "it's not just X, it's Y" antithesis; reflexive rule-of-three lists; em-dash used to manufacture drama; triplet adjectives ("robust, scalable, reliable").

Drop-in guardrail block (inherit in dependent skills)

ANTI-SLOP GUARDRAIL (inherit in every output):
1. SPECIFICITY FLOOR — every section carries >=1 concrete, named, source-specific element.
2. VERIFY-BEFORE-EMIT — no statistic, quote, citation, name, or URL ships unverified;
   cite at point of claim; mark inferences and gaps. (Defers to evidence-discipline.)
3. AUTHORED JUDGEMENT — say what the evidence means; no viewpoint-free summary, no sycophancy.
4. COVER THE HARD PARTS — counter-case, limitation, contradicting source, gap.
5. BREAK THE TEMPLATE — vary rhythm and structure; forbid the banned-vocabulary list above.

Domain-specific avoidance (research outputs)

• Report / dossier / memo: named sources at the point of every claim; a stated analytic judgement per section; the contradicting evidence shown, not hidden; varied section shapes (not every section a three-bullet list).
• Tables / data: every figure carries a source and date; no round-number "estimates" presented as measured; flag computed/derived values.
• .docx output: apply the professional-word-output design standard (named styles, two typefaces, real hierarchy) so the document looks human-made, not template-extruded.
• Academic / proposal: visible logic (evidence -> warrant -> implication); no inflated superlatives; British English and house tone per the project.

Ship gate (run before delivering ANY output)

• Every section has >=1 concrete, named, source-specific element (U1/U2).
• Every stat, quote, citation, name, URL verified and cited at point of claim (U3 / evidence-discipline).
• No banned vocabulary used as register; output scanned against the list.
• Output states an analytic judgement; no viewpoint-free summary, no sycophancy (U5).
• Counter-case, limitation, or gap addressed (U6).
• Sentence and section structure varied; no rule-of-three reflex, no antithesis formula, no em-dash flood (U7).
• ME1-ME7 reviewed; every retained unit has a semantic delta or a documented functional exception.
• AS1-AS7 reviewed when applicable; every retained visual choice has a task, state, accessibility, brand, or evidence reason.
• Visual no-ship boundary passed: no purple gradients, glassmorphism, neon glow, AI-beige defaults, decorative editorial scaffolding, or decorative motion.
• For .docx, professional-word-output standard applied.
• When in doubt, run ai-slop-audit on the draft.

If any box is unticked, the output is not ready to ship.

See also

Use When

Use throughout production and revision of every research artefact.

Do Not Use When

Do not substitute it for the independent ai-slop-audit release verdict.

Required Inputs

Workflow

1. Identify the artefact type and intended action.
2. Apply specificity, verification, voice, hard-case, and variation controls while drafting.
3. Stop on fabricated or unverifiable content and recover by removing it or marking a gap.
4. Run the domain ship gate, then route the iteration to ai-slop-audit.

Outputs

Production Evidence Guidance

The completed ship gate and verification-gap log support release review.

Production Capability Notes

Apply only capabilities authorised for the parent task. Mutation, publication, destructive action, spending, or certification requires explicit authority.

Degraded Mode

Fallback when a fact, dependency, citation, or visual check is unavailable: name the gap and return the narrowest useful qualified artefact; never turn an unassessed check into a pass.

Decision Rules

Quality Standards

Every claim is verified or qualified, every section carries intent, and errors, empty states, risks, and countercases are addressed where applicable.

Anti-Patterns

• Inventing a number for specificity. Fix: verify it or remove it.
• Keeping polished filler. Fix: add a sourced judgement or cut it.
• Waiting for the final audit. Fix: apply controls live.
• Flattening authored voice. Fix: preserve intentional choices.
• Hiding an unavailable check. Fix: name the gap and its release consequence.

Worked Example

If a current market figure cannot be verified, the draft records the evidence gap instead of inserting a plausible estimate.

References

• Independent audit
• Evidence discipline
• docs/continuous-improvement/english-collocations-and-lexical-precision-2026-09-02.md — human-English reader, genre, rhythm, grammar, collocation, lexical precision, and proof overlay; routed from the engine-level AGENTS.md.

Evidence Produced

Capability Contract

Minimum capability is read-only access to the draft, facts, and dependencies. Any editing, mutation, publication, destructive action, spending, or certification requires explicit authorisation from the parent task.

Production Pitfalls

• Inventing a number for specificity. Fix: verify it or remove it.
• Keeping polished filler. Fix: add a decision or evidence, otherwise cut it.
• Waiting for the final audit. Fix: apply controls during production.
• Flattening an intentional voice. Fix: preserve authored choices that serve the audience.
• Hiding an unavailable check. Fix: name the gap and its release consequence.

See also

• ai-slop-audit — the per-iteration detection/audit companion.
• source-evaluation / references/evidence-discipline.md — the truth gate this pairs with.
• professional-word-output — document-design standard for .docx outputs.