AI is the new cringe
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At least in British primary schools, according to The Guardian: "‘That’s so AI!’ What gen Alpha’s biggest insult tells us", 9/24/2026.
Readers with easy access to school-age children can verify that this usage is indeed "everywhere" in the UK, and tell us whether it's also appearing in other Anglophone countries.
This 9/22 Substack "Gen Z’s new favorite insult" by (American) Racheal Janfaza suggests it might have originated on this side of the Atlantic:
Spend five minutes with a tween or teen and you’ll probably hear them say something along the lines of “that’s so AI.”
What they *really* mean is that something looks fake, that someone is being fake, or that someone is acting robotic, i.e. showing little emotion.
That's a bit different from what The Guardian article says about the meaning:
The kids – gen Alpha – have noticed that certain qualities of AI-generated slop, such as the way it’s superficially convincing but ultimately cheap and of dubious value, can be found in lots of other things: knock-off merchandise, exaggerated claims, excuses your parents make. If something is considered somehow suspect, then it is also, by definition, AI.
Here's an (American) LinkedIn post by Rita Goodroe from a month ago, commenting on the same usage. And I should have noticed this from Cory Doctorow's 9/14/2026 article "But do you use keyboard shortcuts? AI people are WEIRD":
That’s weird for the obvious reason that for most people “AI” is a synonym for “low quality.” No one ever said “My kid’s math teacher was replaced with AI” in a happy tone of voice. No one ever said, “Oh, great, they replaced their customer service department with AI chatbots!” My teenager and her friends use “That’s so AI” as a shorthand for “That’s low-effort shit.”
The glosses across these different sources are different but still generally consistent.
KeithB said,
September 24, 2026 @ 11:14 am
Shouldn't that be "That's so SI"?
Dave thomas said,
September 24, 2026 @ 12:21 pm
To KeithB
Add two more letters to the SI and make it SICK…
HTI said,
September 24, 2026 @ 2:10 pm
“That’s so SI” is my response to the casual use of the decimetre (dm).
Barbara Phillips Long said,
September 24, 2026 @ 9:20 pm
Using "A.I." as a slur may affect the reputation of this educational institution, which I was unaware of until I encountered it in a Washington Post article. It's Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence:
“Fiber- and plant-forward diets have a very positive effect on your sleep architecture,” said Hagai Rossman, an author of the study and an assistant professor at Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence in the United Arab Emirates. “That was a significant finding. This has been pretty well known, but now we’ve shown it in a large and free-living population.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2026/09/24/what-eat-get-better-sleep-night-according-new-research/
Chas Belov said,
September 24, 2026 @ 11:36 pm
¿sleep architecture?
bks said,
September 25, 2026 @ 5:08 am
The kids are alright.