The project
The Observatory of Slop documents the arrival of AI-generated posters in local shops across France. Not to single out shopkeepers: to measure a phenomenon, make it visible, and make room for the people whose craft it replaces.
What we're seeing
Since 2023, a growing share of shop posters, flyers and window displays have been produced by image generators, which this site calls AI slop (see “What is AI slop?”).
Nobody is measuring this shift. You can see it in the street, but nowhere is it counted. This site counts it, grid cell by grid cell, from the photos people submit.
What we don't do
We don't identify anyone. Whether or not the shopkeeper chose their poster knowingly, they're not the subject here. So the site never publishes a name, an address, a storefront, or a contact, and its database can't even hold one: the schema forbids it, and a test checks this on every code change.
We also don't claim that a given poster is “generated.” No AI detector runs here, because none is reliable. The site publishes what people submit, once checked that nothing in it identifies anyone.
How it works
You photograph a poster. On your device, the photo is redrawn pixel by pixel before it's sent, which strips every metadata field, GPS position included; the original never leaves your device.
Only a 10 km grid cell is computed from the position, on your device; the exact coordinate is never transmitted. The server re-reads the image and flags anything that looks like a contact detail for the person moderating; they alone decide, and the image then joins the map, aggregated at 20 km, and the wall.
Anyone can request the takedown of a published image, no justification needed: it's hidden the moment the request comes in, and a person decides within 48 hours.
Why stickers
Each drop, an artist designs stickers printed on demand. Half the net margin goes to them. It's the simplest way we found to put money on the side of the people doing this work by hand, and to fund the site without advertising.
No generated visual enters here, not for the stickers, not for the site. It's rule number one, and it applies to everyone, us included.