A cartoon circulating online shows Dolly Parton and Tim Curry arriving at the pearly gates, with Parton telling God she picked the right plus one. It looks like something from The New Yorker—except it was made by ChatGPT, and the AI appended the signatures of real cartoonists to the image.
The addition of genuine signatures turns a stylistic homage into something closer to forgery. Readers may assume the cartoonist actually drew the work, and the cartoonists themselves get no say in how their names are used.
This is a new wrinkle in the ongoing clash between generative AI and creative professionals. While the cartoon is playful, the signature practice is not: it borrows the credibility of living artists without their permission, making it harder for audiences to tell real work from synthetic imitation.