There seems to be some excitement around “ChatGPT’s powerful new image engine”, but as ever, its functional understanding of the world seems limited.

I first learned about the new system when some some smart aleck on X sent me an example of the new system trying to label a bike (an example I have considered before), with the caption “Uh oh”, apparently believing that my longstanding challenges to image generation had been solved.

It does look impressive on first inspection, better than some examples I showed here before.

But if you look closely, there are several errors, and those errors are revealing. For example, the rear center-pull (?) brake is mislabeled as the seat stay, and the big gear on the back is mislabeled as the rear brake. There is a label for a spoke that is pointing to blank space.

In many modern bikes, of course, a rear brake can be found back there, but not in this diagram. Instead this system has combined a typical position for a modern disc brake system with a diagram of an older (though still in use) caliper (or similar) system. The system doesn’t actually understand how the various parts function.