clanker

What it means

An insult for a robot or an AI, borrowed from Star Wars and revived in 2025 as chatbots became everyday. Kids use it to mock AI-generated pictures, chatbot replies, and self-checkout machines. Some of the online joke format deliberately mimics the structure of racial slurs, which is where it gets uncomfortable.

In the wild

"That essay was written by a clanker, you can tell."

The parent note

Aimed at a chatbot it is harmless, but the bit where kids roleplay bigotry toward robots is the part worth a conversation.

Tracked since August 26, 2026 across public sources. Meanings drift fast, so this entry is refreshed automatically as usage changes.