People will migrate to closed or moderated platforms (discord, facebook groups, streams, real life). There will probably come to be some universal law of the internet about how much a community can grow before it becomes a target for the slop machine.

No, but the problem isn't new with AI. Spam and slop are the same word. LLMs have made it much cheaper to create personalized spam for each user and have legitimized the ecosystem to the point it's not illegal to spam people with LLM content any more (because spam laws only apply to email and physical mail).

As someone who stepped away from gaming about a decade ago because of the handmade slop every major company was and still is shoveling, hope is relative.

Can you hope for better outcomes for yourself? Absolutely; seek out the groups you enjoy and hobbies that relax you, especially tactile experiences. Build RSS feeds and other forms of decentralized data management. Maybe disconnect from the Internet and do some kind of physical activity if you don’t already.

However, better outcomes for the masses? They won’t move to new platforms; Bsky and Mastodon proved that. And how would new platforms meaningfully change the “slop” issue? As you stated it’s just a game of whack-a-model, not to mention AI can be a value-add. When faced with a stubborn populace and worsening conditions, it’s best to leave than stay in the mudpit trying to lead people away from what they want.