We knew this would happen. A way for me to insult AI in WA.
Most people who regularly use AI for either recreation or work know that the best way to deal with AI is to be polite. When you ask a question of AI politely, they will give you a polite answer. But if you're rude to AI, AI is rude to you.
Now the saturation of AI and public discourse has gotten to the point where people are just tired of it. They don't want to talk about AI; they don't want to hear about it, and normally when that happens, people start thinking of rude ways to talk about it.
So now people are coming up with derogatory terms for artificial intelligence, and the one that seems to have risen to the top so far is “Clankers.”
Where does clankers come from?
The origin of this term, clankers, seems to be part of the Star Wars universe. Somewhere around 2005, with the advent of the video game “Republic Commandos”, and also the animated TV series “Star Wars: the clone wars”
Other slang terms are being coined to refer to not just AI, but to the “Tech Bros” who create them, Like bot-licker and grokkers.
So, is this just another way to vent our frustration about technology and its progress in our society?
According to msn.com,
‘This all raises the question, though: Is it even possible to use a slur against something like AI? (Related side question: Is it weird to feel bad for AI for getting called a slur, or to feel bad for robot tech at all, Clanker is “definitely a slur,” said Adam Aleksic, a linguist who goes by EtymologyNerd on Instagram and TikTok.’
On one reddit thread, TheJzuken said, “Do you think they are going to be offended at some point and prohibit meatbags from using the word?”
My own “clanker” moment.
It's been my experience that when people start using a derogatory term for a group of people, or a person, or even an inanimate object It's because they want to feel superior. I think it's safe to say that there's a large group of people in America that feel threatened by Artificial intelligence and the machines that it might control. (I know I am to some degree.)
I had a lovely experience with AI the other day trying to get customer service on the phone. Basically, the AI kept asking me the same question over and over in different ways, hoping to get an answer that would allow it to move farther down the logic tree so it could solve my problem without human help.
Unfortunately, my problem was not on its logic tree. So, the AI system couldn't progress any farther and it didn't have an option for bailing out and referring me to a human being. When that became obvious to me, I just hung up. Sorry, no satisfaction for the customer, and if the AI had any feelings at all, there was certainly no satisfaction for it.
Ultimately, through a different phone number, I did actually find a human being to talk to and got my customer service issues resolved, mostly.
I'm not particularly enamored with the idea of. Artificial intelligence. But I am resigned to the fact that it's coming whether we like it or not.
I don't think I'm ready to call it names yet.
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