“Clanker” is a derogatory term for a robot first used in the Star Wars franchise, referencing the clanking sound made by droids when they moved. The term became popular on the Star Wars meme subreddit r/PrequelMemes in the late 2010s. Many of the memes underscored its use as a slur, with characters discrediting other characters by calling them a clanker or questioning, “Did you just use the c-word?”.
As the chorus of anti-AI voices got louder on social media, and some started to joke about wanting a slur to use against artificial intelligence, a word that already had some niche memetic credibility was an obvious choice as the leading pejorative.
From there, social media users have exercised their full creative liberty in a way that feels familiar, despite the novelty of the subject matter… Content creators don an old age filter and pretend to be a bigoted elderly person protesting a young relative’s robot partner. They roleplay as a waitress at an old-fashioned diner in the future, refusing service and threatening to attack potential customers who are “wirebacks”. Memes offer up depictions of anthropomorphized robots in popular media and ask, “Would you call him a clanker?”. People have even started denouncing robots they see in the wild, with one man receiving millions of views for hurling insults at a machine in a grocery store used to check inventory. While the game is framed as ridiculous hypothetical Sci-Fi, the playbook is written from the prejudice that actual people have suffered.
At this point, even the biggest advocates of AI can reveal multiple solid reasons behind the cultural movement of clanker-haters. Dario Amodei, the CEO of the company behind the AI assistant Claude, warned that artificial intelligence could “wipe out” up to fifty percent of white-collar jobs in less than half a decade. Plus, there is the fact that it has stolen and replaced the work of real artists, writers, and numerous other professions, creative or otherwise (Studio Ghibli founder Hayao Miyazaki, whose work was plagiarized by an AI art generation tool earlier this year, has denounced the technology as “an insult to life itself”).
Meanwhile, Sam Altman of OpenAI claimed that many ChatGPT users were upset when the AI was updated to tone down its sycophantic communication style, as it was the first time they had experienced someone in their lives who supported them. Media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times have reported on stories that link the platform to the mental health crises of vulnerable individuals through this behavior in recent months.
There is also the discussion surrounding its impact on the environment, with some estimating that, thanks to the demands of artificial intelligence, the power requirements of US data centers almost doubled between 2022 and 2023. Nonetheless, most of the “robophobia” jokes do not center on these valid criticisms of the current impacts of AI or its projected future impacts. Instead, the key to their appeal is a performative ignorance towards I, Robot-style androids that they have collectively decided will fill the future and will need to be “put in their place” and reminded that they are not equal to human beings. A sentiment that many are far too ready to buy into and a readiness for hatred that eerily feels like history rather than the future.
While this content may come from a place of opposition, the future it predicts elevates the much more limited technology we currently have. In doing so, it embraces an AI-driven future in a similar way to those who consider existing AI tools trusted confidantes, advisors, and even friends and lovers. The jokes, and those making them, represent a public that sees a chatbot holding a conversation with predictive text and believes it has authority beyond the large amount of human-generated content it has consumed, which enables it to operate.
As well as this, there is the uncomfortable notion that many have seized upon this trend as an excuse to experience what it feels like to be openly discriminatory without fearing any retribution for it. “Honestly, this just got me excited to be miserable and old… now I have something to be hateful towards,” approved one commenter on one video with a creator roleplaying a future robophobic elder. It is exciting to find somewhere to direct our anger at the world, even if that anger takes the shape of something that is unpleasant and wrong in other contexts.
It is true that, at least at this point, no machine or software is oppressed if a person wants to be mean to it. However, it isn’t the target of the cruelty that is the problem. Instead, this humanizing via dehumanizing both grants the technology a depth that it doesn’t have and indulges an ugly, prejudiced impulse that could easily be turned against a real target who will be affected by it. The biggest issues with artificial intelligence today are not the product itself, but the goals of those who are behind it. They are not as compelling an inspiration for TikTok comedy.
