This is a deranged take. Lots of slurs end in "er" because they describe someone who does something - for example, a wanker, one who wanks. Or a tosser, one who tosses. Or a clanker, one who clanks.
The fact that the N word doesn't even follow this pattern tells you it's a totally unrelated slur.
It's less of a deranged take when you have the additional context of a bunch of people on tiktok/etc promoting this slur by acting out 1950s themes skits where they kick "clankers" out of their dinner or similar obvious allusions to traditional racism.
Anyway, it's not really a big deal. Sacred cows are and should always be permissible to joke about.
That's an absolutely ridiculous assertion. Do you similarly think that the Battlestar Galactica reboot was a thinly-veiled racist show because they frequently called the Cylons "toasters"?
While I find the animistic idea that all things have a spirit and should be treated with respect endearing, I do not think it is fair to equate derogative language targeting people with derogative language targeting things, or to suggest that people who disparage AI in a particular way do so specifically because they hate black people. I can see how you got there, and I'm sure it's true for somebody, but I don't think it follows.
More likely, I imagine that we all grew up on sci fi movies where the Han Solo sort of rogue rebels/clones types have a made up slur that they use for the big bad empire aliens/robots/monsters that they use in-universe, and using it here, also against robots, makes us feel like we're in the fun worldbuilding flavor bits of what is otherwise a rather depressing dystopian novel.
