Is an AI backlash brewing? What ‘clanker’ says about growing frustrations with emerging tech

August 5, 2025

A robot made of Amazon delivery boxes

(NBC News) – A slur for robots and AI has emerged online in recent weeks, offering some sense of growing societal anxiety with increasingly capable technology.

But there’s a catch. By using a slur in a way that would typically apply to a human, people are also elevating the technology, offering some sense that people both want to put down the machines and recognize their ascension in society. (Read More)