The Backyard – AI Slop is Ruining R/C Facebook Groups

Happy Tuesday all! Welcome to The Backyard. (Sorry for the delay, I couldn’t get something up on Friday due to some last minute running around I had to do!)

There’s no doubt that AI has plenty of legitimate uses, and it’s clearly here to stay. I’m not here to argue either of those points, and I want to put that qualifier out there right up front.

What I am here to talk about is what isn’t a good use of AI — and fair warning, this is where I go full Old Man Yells at Cloud.

AI is absolutely wrecking Facebook groups. And if I wasn’t already nostalgic for the days of standalone message boards, I sure am now.

Let’s start with the group-prompt bots. You know the ones. Nothing quite like being greeted by deep, thought-provoking questions such as, “What kind of A-arms do you like, and why?” Riveting stuff. Truly the pinnacle of artificial intelligence.

But that’s not even the biggest offender.

The real problem is the flood of AI-generated images — fake or hypothetical product “leaks,” imaginary releases, and bizarre renders of people’s rigs placed into full-scale environments. You know the kind: six-foot-tall tires, melted body lines, steering links that defy physics, and lighting that makes absolutely no sense. It all looks just believable enough to cause confusion, and just fake enough to feel like slop once you stop and actually look at it.

And that’s the frustrating part.

Because for all its faults, I genuinely love social media for RC. I’ve seen incredible builds, clever tech solutions, beautiful trail photos, and thoughtful discussions shared by people who are genuinely passionate about the hobby. That content is why I’m there in the first place. Watching it get pushed out of my feed in favor of low-effort, algorithm-chasing AI slop is a real bummer. (P.S. the “slop” in the photo above is the best kind of r/c slop- the real kind!

Judging by the increasing number of comments and posts calling this stuff out, I know I’m not alone. More and more folks seem tired of scrolling past nonsense just to find the real, human-made content they actually came for.

AI has its place. This just isn’t it.

And if that makes me sound like the grumpy guy on the porch shaking his fist at the internet… well, so be it. I’ll be over here missing message boards and real build threads.

Until next time, keep it on all 4’s.