Is 2025 a Dystopian Year?

A week after this blog's Christmas post, Inside Santa's Workshop (December 2024), let's follow up with a New Year's post. Maybe 'double down' is a better description of this post than 'follow up'.

'2025 plays chess.'
AI Comic Factory

Last year's New Year AI image, Father Time and the New Year Baby (January 2024), was filled with bearded old men, clocks, and babies. This year's image has a dystopian look to it. The two panels on the left show futuristic cities, while the bottom-right panel shows Big Brother watching two men play chess.

As for the top-right panel, the player on the left shows a younger version of the player on the right. Is the player maybe GM Ken Rogoff? See 'At the Center of AI Research' (August 2023) and follow the links for before/after images of the genial GM.