AI skeptics have found a new way to express their disdain for the creeping presence of artificial intelligence: through slurs.

Out on the streets and in stores, people have begun harassing robots they encounter in the wild. (Anyone else feel a bit sorry for the robot?) Online, the internet has revived a Star Wars–inspired insult, “clanker,” with Google Trends data showing a spike in searches for the term in early June.

“POV: Me at the clanker rally in 2088,” one TikTok user joked. “Keep your oily soulless clanker hands away from my delicious human food,” another X user wrote in response to a clip of Elon Musk’s Optimus robot dishing out popcorn at the Tesla Diner (not a sentence I ever thought I’d write).

The term has also been picked up by politicians. “Sick of yelling ‘REPRESENTATIVE’

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