AI's New Slur: 'Clanker' Becomes Internet's Top Insult
A new linguistic front has opened in the burgeoning debate over artificial intelligence, as skeptics and the uneasy public alike increasingly resort to slurs to express their disdain for the technology. Among these, the term “clanker,” an insult drawn from the Star Wars universe, has rapidly emerged as a popular epithet, with Google Trends data indicating a notable surge in searches for the term in early June.
Online, the term has become a common fixture in discussions surrounding AI. On platforms like TikTok and X (formerly Twitter), users employ “clanker” both humorously and derisively. One TikTok user, for instance, humorously envisioned a “clanker rally in 2088,” while another X user reacted to a video of Elon Musk’s Optimus robot serving popcorn by declaring, “Keep your oily soulless clanker hands away from my delicious human food.” This reflects a broader trend where the physical presence of robots, even in mundane scenarios, elicits strong, often negative, linguistic responses.
The term’s reach extends beyond casual online banter, even entering the political discourse. Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) recently leveraged the term on X, stating, “My new bill makes sure you don’t have to talk to a clanker if you don’t want to,” in reference to automated customer service systems. This adoption by public figures underscores how rapidly these emerging terms are seeping into mainstream conversations about AI regulation and public interaction.
This linguistic trend isn’t limited to terms for AI entities themselves. A parallel development sees new slurs emerging for the human users of AI systems. Discussions around xAI’s chatbot, Grok, have spawned terms like “Grokkers,” “Groklins,” and “Grocksuckers.” Similarly, on TikTok, individuals who exhibit excessive reliance on ChatGPT are sometimes referred to as “sloppers.” This signifies a growing societal division, where the use or perceived over-reliance on AI can become a basis for social categorization and derision.
These emerging linguistic patterns are symptomatic of a deeper, more widespread societal unease about the proliferation of artificial intelligence. According to the Pew Research Center, concerns among U.S. adults regarding AI have steadily increased since 2021. More than half of Americans, 51%, now express greater concern than excitement about AI’s ascendancy. These anxieties encompass a range of fears, from the potential for AI to displace human jobs to the emerging issue of “chatbot addiction.”
However, the rapid adoption of such derogatory terms for AI and its users has also sparked a nuanced debate. Some observers find the embrace of these new slurs problematic, particularly when they appear to echo or parallel existing racial slurs or perpetuate stereotypes. Others, looking to the future, express a more personal apprehension, wondering if they might one day regret their current words. As one X user mused, “I don’t want to have to look a robot in the eye in fifty years and be like, ‘you don’t understand it was a different time…’” This sentiment highlights the complex and evolving relationship between humans and the intelligent machines they are creating, where present-day language could become a future source of reflection, or even remorse.