The popularisation of the term “clanker” on social media is more than a simple meme. More profoundly, it demonstrates a shift in the cultural zeitgeist among young generations who are tired of having the supposed benefits of A.I. shoved down their throats from every possible angle.
One of the more recent trends to blow up on short-form video content forums like TikTok and YouTube Shorts are skit-like videos taken from the futuristic point-of-view of the “clanker,” a communally stitched together concept of sentient A.I. robots that will one day walk among us. In these videos, “clankers” — the term intended as a makeshift slur for A.I., and occasionally technology at large — are the victims of discrimination, clearly parodying well-documented instances of racism and inequity experienced by minority groups throughout history.
Often set in the 2050s, these skits place A.I. onto the receiving end of stereotypical examples of prejudice (or, as TikTokers refer to it in this case, “robophobia”). “Clanker” and “robophobic” — the latter a clear spin on “homophobic,” again in parallel to the overarching theme of discrimination — are just two of the words created by the Gen Z and Gen Alpha communities perpetuating the meme. As inside jokes across the Internet often do, the meme continues to spur new twists that keep it fresh and engaging for short-form content consumers (not that freshness is necessarily required when another one of TikTok’s latest memes seems to just be repeating the numbers “six, seven” ad nauseam, but that’s an editorial for another day).
To be clear, zoomers are using these terms purely in jest. No one’s actually kicking their Roomba down the stairs or shouting slurs at their microwave. But one look at the metrics shows that the popularity of the meme is undeniable. One video in which the creator calls a self-operating supermarket vacuum equipped with a large pair of googly-eyes a “dirty f—n clanker” and tells it to “keep it pushing” has amassed an impressive 1.4 million likes and nearly 7,000 comments in overwhelming support. Many of the jokes in the comments, at least in this writer’s opinion, are actually quite clever, such as one commenter who states that “I’m not a robophobe; I own a microwave” in a clear jab to the common microaggression “I’m not racist, I have Black friends.”
But we’re not here to discuss the cleverness of the jokes; nor are we here to explore the morality behind making light of historical injustices that are actually very serious, as some X users have started to rightfully question.
Instead, I’d like to focus on the increasingly apparent implications of this otherwise simple meme: after years of technological advancement and prioritization of A.I. development across various industries, Gen Z and Gen Alpha have somewhat hypocritically become fed up with the constant push toward artificial intelligence in the world of tech and our culture at large.
Following closely on the coattails of the equally frustrating and now largely defunct NFT craze, the widespread push of A.I. by seemingly every tech company under the sun has been difficult to ignore. If you’re an Internet user in virtually any capacity (and I don’t see how you could be reading this article otherwise), you’ve probably made a few Google searches over the last few weeks that have been answered with A.I. overviews leading the search results. Any benefits that this so-called feature might provide are negated by the fact that its answers to your queries are confidently incorrect a shockingly high amount of the time.
This issue isn’t limited to Google either. Columbia Journalism Review conducted a study in which they asked eight popular A.I. search engines including the massively popular ChatGPT to retrieve and cite news sources, finding the collective services to provide incorrect answers a jaw-dropping 60 per cent of the time.
In all fairness, A.I. is a developing technology making major advancements just about every month. Though that doesn’t mean that these misinformation spreading machines aren’t harmless, especially when they’re as popular as they are. Forbes reported in April that ChatGPT alone had over 500 million active weekly users, and remember, the technology is only getting more popular with time. In a world that already perpetuates misinformation on a wide scale thanks to social media, confidently incorrect chatbots only exist to exacerbate the problem.
But this is only one suggestion as to why young Internet users might be fed up with A.I. The explanation could be much more simple: the ever-decreasing attention spans of TikTok and YouTube Shorts users could indicate that they’ve simply grown tired of seeing A.I. recommendations and suggestions plaguing more tech services that at one point required them to think for themselves.
A spiritual predecessor to the anti-clanker movement can be seen in the term “A.I. slop,” a phrase commonly used in social media comments in response to A.I. generated photos and videos. As the threat of A.I. looms over the world of artistic expression, it becomes harder with every passing month to detect when A.I. has been used to generate visual content online. It’s no longer as easy as looking at a subject’s fingers to tell when you’re seeing something produced by a machine; oftentimes miniscule context clues are required to determine when a picture or video has been produced by A.I., if it has any distinguishable flaws at all.
The fact that A.I. is quietly nudging its way into artistry isn’t the only reason to be concerned about the rise of “A.I. art” (a self-contained oxymoron). Particularly, provocative Internet users have started selling the A.I. art they’ve generated — which should be considered a direct insult to every artist struggling to make ends meet by relying on their own creativity, passion and skill. Contrary to the belief of those who somehow support this practice, sitting at a computer typing in prompts does not require a modicum of talent or passion. The same cannot be said for the artists whose work the chatbot will plagiarize from as it creates its “A.I. slop,” a term that suggests some semblance of anti-A.I. sentiment has been brewing for some time. The popularity of the “clanker” meme only stands to demonstrate that we’ve reached some sort of cultural boiling point.
Another point of turbulence for the conversation around A.I. is the fear that it will take human jobs at a rapid pace once it develops to a point where bigwig executives feel comfortable replacing their staff with it. Let’s be real, we all know it’s a matter of time before this becomes a serious problem. After all, artificial intelligence is effectively free labour that has proven somewhat effective in fulfilling remedial tasks and even providing guidance in certain situations (look no further than the unnerving phenomenon that is A.I. counselors for more on that). For a capitalist whose only concern is gaining hordes of wealth regardless of the ways they negatively affect other people, eventually outsourcing work to A.I. is a no-brainer. In fact, we’re already seeing the beginnings of this process, and so far, it has impacted early-career workers (ages 22-25) the most. It could be a coincidence that the demographic whose current employment opportunities are at the highest risk because of A.I. is the same one populating “anti-clanker” forums like TikTok, but that’s just food for thought.
Another common thread in the “robophobic” meme sphere is the joke that Gen Z and Gen Alpha will one day be the first generations to openly disapprove of romantic and/or sexual human-A.I. relationships in a culture that demands these relationships be accepted. The joke here is obviously referencing baby boomers who discriminate against homosexual or biracial relationships — again, taking a real form of prejudice and adapting it into fit the anti-A.I. theme of the joke.
It should be clear to any reasonable person that the hypothetical concept of human-A.I. romantic relationships is very different from real-world examples of homosexual and biracial relationships. The way I see it, joking about being opposed to human-A.I. relationships (or “crossplatform” relationships, as some TikTokers have dubbed it) isn’t a dog whistle signifying disapproval toward real, historical relationships that have experienced unjust discrimination; rather, it’s a joke effectively stating that initiating romantic relationships with computers would be the point where even the most accepting members of today’s youth would draw the line on what they’re willing to openly support.
As for whether “crossplatform” relationships could one day come to exist, it seems like a mostly silly concept, though this trend shows zoomers are at least somewhat concerned about the possibility. If that seems completely far-fetched, just know that the beginnings of human-A.I. relationships might actually be in motion if communities like the A.I. relationships subreddit are to be taken seriously.
Of course, society is a long way off from ever accepting these relationships as something worthy of respect or admiration, but if these “robophobic” zoomers are to be believed, then they’ll likely be the first group to stand against it should our culture ever reach that point.
Across all these examples, the overall lesson seems quite clear: even if they’re not being explicit in their intentions, there’s reason to believe that Gen Z and Gen Alpha have become tired of the world’s incessant obsession with A.I. Whether you’re using an everyday smartphone or engaging in conversations about schoolwork, the discussion around A.I. seems inescapable and it’s caused young Internet users to rebel in their own meme-worthy way.
I would be remiss not to mention the blatant hypocrisy that many of these zoomers are no doubt demonstrating as they continue to use A.I. services like ChatGPT to complete essays, tests and other forms of schoolwork. High schools and universities have been forced to grapple with the rapid acceleration of A.I. usage amongst students as they try to find a foolproof way of accurately catching students who are using these tools to cheat (for the record, they’re not quite there yet, and with the continual improvements being made to A.I. technology, it’s becoming increasingly likely that they never will be). In an ironic twist, several “anti-clanker” videos posted to TikTok have been generated by A.I. themselves, though commenters are usually quick to point out the hypocrisy on display.
Even though the logic of some users is flawed, this still doesn’t undermine the general notion that backlash is forming against generative A.I. across young social media users. The general theme of venting frustration is still prevalent, even if they’re ironically using A.I. to get their point across.
It’s an interesting development in the ongoing saga of artificial intelligence’s rise to the top of the technological space. The world’s continued adaptation of A.I. technology has felt inevitable for years, but this trend suggests a new dynamic might be at play: among Gen Z and Gen Alpha, the conversational tide around artificial intelligence is finally beginning to turn.