Christoph Niemann's "Create Your Own Cover with Till-E"

In a sequence drawn by Christoph Niemann for the cover of the November 20, 2023, A.I. Issue, an artist encountering a creative block is rescued by Till-E, a bot who eagerly takes over the job. Niemann, with his characteristic biting humor, imagines the unintended consequences of turning to artificial intelligence to solve problems of the artistic imagination. The cover's strap, a graphic element that has occupied the left of every New Yorker cover since 1925, guides the reader to an interactive area of our Web site where anyone can partner with the industrious little bot to create their own cover. I talked to Niemann about his cheeky take on artificial intelligence and why he doesn't seem overly concerned that robots will bring about the end of life as we know it. What do you think of concerns that A.I. threatens to replace creators?