The joke in this 2017 cartoon is that robots have taken nearly every job, yet an executive still needs a human employee for one task: cheating on taxes. The punchline satirizes both sweeping claims about automation and the willingness to treat wrongdoing as ordinary office work.
What happens in the cartoon?
KDnuggets published the cartoon article on April 15, 2017, for U.S. Tax Day. Gregory Piatetsky wrote the article, and Jon Carter drew the cartoon. In its imagined automated workplace, an executive says: “The robots have taken over almost all jobs, but we still need Jenkins to cheat on our taxes.” The line is fictional dialogue, not a statement by a real executive. Read the original KDnuggets cartoon article.
Why is the tax joke funny?
The setup echoes a familiar claim that automation will replace human workers. The twist preserves a person in the workplace not to do a socially useful job, but to help the company evade taxes. That collision—advanced technology alongside deliberate human misconduct—is the joke. It also pokes at the executive’s priorities: the imagined company is comfortable with widespread automation but keeps a human when it wants someone to participate in wrongdoing.
The cartoon is satire, not evidence that humans are uniquely capable of tax fraud or that AI has taken over almost all jobs. Its premise exaggerates automation to make the tax-evasion punchline land.
Recommended Free Tools
#1 Best Overall
What context did the 2017 article give?
Piatetsky’s introduction described the cartoon as showing an unexpected white-collar job that might resist automation and machine learning. It also mentioned AI systems learning to bluff, citing the January 2017 Libratus poker result, and said the IRS had reportedly used software to detect tax cheating and published a prototype. Those are claims reported in the 2017 article; they are not independently documented there with primary-source evidence, and they should not be read as a verified account of current IRS practice.
The article’s Tax Day framing belongs to its April 15, 2017 publication context. It does not establish current tax filing deadlines.
Quick Recap
Best Value
Rank #3
Rank #2
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.
