‘That’s so AI’: what gen Alpha’s new insult says about AI

The Guardian’s Pass notes column on 24 September 2026 was devoted to what it calls the year’s most popular slang: “That’s AI!”, or in its fuller form, “That’s so AI!”. In primary schools, the column reports, the phrase works as an insult, aimed at things that are inauthentic, unbelievable or simply rubbish.

Written in the column’s traditional mock-dictionary format (“Name: ‘That’s AI!’. Age: Brand new. Appearance: Primary schools everywhere”), the piece makes one point clear from the start: actual artificial intelligence has very little to do with it.

Where the meaning comes from

What gen Alpha has noticed, according to the column, is that certain qualities of AI-generated material, superficially convincing but ultimately cheap and of dubious value, turn up in plenty of other places too: knock-off merchandise, exaggerated claims, the excuses parents make. If something feels suspect, then it is, by definition, AI. The children have simply widened the word until it covers anything fake or empty, and they use it as a put-down, never as praise.

A verdict, delivered early

That is the uncomfortable reading the column offers adults. While the rest of us debate whether AI might still be a saviour, provided good judgment is used and the right guardrails are in place, the generation growing up with the technology has, in the columnist’s words, “already made up its mind: AI is so AI”.

The asides are playful but pointed. The column’s list of things that are “so AI” takes in the rebranding of artificial intelligence as “super intelligence”, or SI, which it credits to US President Donald Trump; tech stocks; driverless taxis, especially the ones with a human sitting in the driver’s seat; and, by the author’s own admission, his former job in marketing. It closes with the series’ customary “Do say” and “Don’t say” lines, including a warning that shouting “That’s AI!” may earn the speaker an awkward reply about a schoolmate named Al.

Why it matters

The column is satire, not research, and the phrase itself is only months old. Its argument is still easy to follow: the first generation to grow up surrounded by AI tools does not seem to regard them with awe. For companies now stamping “AI” onto every product, that is worth remembering. The label that marketing departments treat as a selling point has become, in the schoolyard, a judgment.