Comment by KMnO4
6 months ago
I wonder how hard this would be. As a joke, I put your comment into Claude and asked for an XKCD comic. Surprisingly, it generated (a very bad) SVG image:
https://jumpshare.com/s/cBhNffK6aWZX5SwYP0YN
I asked it to instead generate a comic in text form and got the following:
Title: "The XKCD Paradox"
Panel 1: A stick figure is typing on a computer. Above them is a thought bubble: "I bet there's an XKCD about how there's always a relevant XKCD."
Panel 2: The screen shows a Google search result. The stick figure exclaims, "Huh, there isn't one. That's weird."
Panel 3: We see the inside of a Google data center. Servers are labeled "XKCD Generator AI." An alarm is flashing with the text "Paradox detected!"
Panel 4: A stick figure resembling Randall Munroe is shown frantically drawing at a desk. A speech bubble reads, "Must... draw... comic... about... always... having... relevant... comic..."
Panel 5: Back to the original stick figure, now looking at a new XKCD comic on their screen. The comic is titled "Meta-Relevance" and shows a recursive image of stick figures looking at computers.
Panel 6: A wide shot shows both the stick figure and the Randall Munroe character simultaneously saying, "Whew, balance restored."
Footnote at the bottom of the comic: "Plot twist: This comic was generated by an AI trying to convince you it wasn't generated by an AI."
This version plays with the meta-concept of XKCD's relevance, the idea of paradoxes in AI, and adds a layer of self-referential humor typical of XKCD. It also touches on the theme of AI-generated content trying to prove it's not AI-generated, adding an extra layer of cleverness to the concept.
Maybe a little on the nose, but way better than I can do.
The textual one is quite good! I wish Randall does it.