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The reason not to call AI "clankers" is not because you'll hurt the AI's feelings (they don't have those) but because it reveals you to be the kind of person who will use a slur if you think you can get away with it. Your minoritized friends will see it and note it.

I don't know about that word so won't engage w/it until I can read up on the origins or why people are using it. Are there pejorative terms that would be acceptable to use when describing it w/o being problematic? Like, would 'knowledge slurping machine' carry similar problems?

I think it's fine to call LLMs mean things if you don't like them. I think gleefully adopting a specific term expressly as a slur sends a message about how you feel about slurs in general. It's not about AI, it's about other people who are the subjects of slurs.

So say I am frustrated and call my newly purchased fridge a 'pile'. How would that be distinct from the term you used (given that I don't actually know the history of it)? Genuinely trying to understand what makes the term you mentioned a slur vs just some term to express frustration at a tool?

And also "clanker" is being used next to words like "wireback" and "tinskin"; it's not exactly subtle, specially if you look up the etymology. The latter two are just seen less often because they're even more obvious