Clanker is a derogatory term used to insult AI and its products and services such as delivery robots, therapist chatbots and automated customer service. Why try to hurt the feelings of something that, oh wait, has no feelings? Like most slurs, it has more to do with the speaker using it than the object of derision. Most social media messages using the word reflect a fear of AI replacing entry-level, white-collar occupations: “Them clankers taking all our jobs.” Ruben Gallego, a US senator from Arizona, went viral when he used the term to popularise his bill: “Sick of yelling ‘REPRESENTATIVE’ into the phone 10 times just to talk to a human being? My new bill makes sure you don’t have to talk to a clanker if you don’t want to.” It was not long before clanker videos spiralled into full-blown robophobia, inciting hatred and violence with the same format and tone as racist, homophobic and misogynist memes. —Prospect Magazine