Clanker: The Viral AI Slur Fueling Backlash Against Robots and Chatbots

In popular culture, robots have long carried nicknames. Battlestar Galactica called them “toasters,” while Blade Runner used the term “skinjobs.” Now, amid rising tensions over artificial intelligence, a new label has emerged online: “clanker.” 

The word, once confined to Star Wars lore where it was used against battle droids, has become the latest insult aimed at robots and AI chatbots. In a viral video, a man shouted, “Get this dirty clanker out of here!” at a sidewalk robot, echoing a sentiment spreading rapidly across social platforms. 

Posts using the term have exploded on TikTok, Instagram, and X, amassing hundreds of millions of views. Beyond online humor, “clanker” has been adopted in real-world debates. Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego even used the word while promoting his bill to regulate AI-driven customer service bots. For critics, it has become a rallying cry against automation, generative AI content, and the displacement of human jobs. 

Anti-AI protests in San Francisco and London have also adopted the phrase as a unifying slogan. “It’s still early, but people are really beginning to see the negative impacts,” said protest organizer Sam Kirchner, who recently led a demonstration outside OpenAI’s headquarters. 

While often used humorously, the word reflects genuine frustration. Jay Pinkert, a marketing manager in Austin, admi

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