Autumn:  This is a literal illustration of why AI in itself isn't art, but is an ingredient in art.

Imagination was the driving force behind this image, and lots of cutting and pasting.  And, of course, AI.

The whole thing was a vision of what the singularity might feel like.  It's set in a jungle swamp fantasy forest with water and foliage on the ground.  Here is a rundown of what can be found in this busy image:

• Darth Vader in a gorilla suit on a kid's rope swing while a TIE fighter flies above.
• A "ZAP" in the style of the old Batman show when people were fighting.
• A red elephant boxing with a blue-outfitted woman of color (a metaphor for the ongoing U.S. election).
• A robot dog.
• A steampunk Homer Simpson with a clock in his chest and a fortune coming out of his mouth that says (in Russian) "Let's Make America Great Again."
• A dog-like blue creature named Eugene the Jeep from the old Popeye cartoon is seen here on a leash held by Homer.
• A second leash of Homer's is connected with Santa's Little Helper from The Simpsons, also colored blue and with an Amazon Prime stamp on his butt, speaking through a speech bubble from the Little Orphan Annie comic strip that had turned 100 years old on August 5, 2024 ("ARF!" was a famous quote from her dog Sandy).
• A black tactical robot dog is to the left of Homer.
• The bottom-left of the page (where the barcode appeared for print readers) looks as if it has been charred, most likely by a singularity.
• Charlie Brown talking into a shoe phone reporting the singularity.
• Blue, purple, and red electric bolts between Charlie Brown and Snoopy, who, while not blue, has a blue typewriter on top of his red dog house with a blue (normally red) yield sign on it.
• On the right side of the page is a swampy pit in the ground with a skeleton zombie clawing its way out and some kind of robotic, cartoonish blue dog dangling a pair of shoes over the zombie pit.
• Above the dog is a little plateau with the blue (usually green) Brobee character from Yo Gabba Gabba!
• Another Batman-like "POW!" with another robot dog.
• In the center is a melting rainbow apple-headed guy whose vomit-tongue is made of red nonsense binary code.
• In the middle of the vomit-tongue is a bunch of Woodstock-era "brown acid" with Schrödinger's cat on it in red and blue colors, once again representing the U.S. election (the blue is alive and the red is dead, but we won't know for sure without taking the acid).
• The McDonald's head is "turned on" Timothy Leary style with an "on" switch and no "off."
• In the upper-right is the Crayola Crayon logo stating that this is a parody and also saying "not going back," an allusion to AI's future, our propensity for parody, and yet another reference to the election that was dominating every waking moment.