I recently came across an issue using AI (ChatGPT in particular). I had AI within my Apple iMac generate an image of three men, matching the descriptions of two friends and myself, eating fish tacos by a lighthouse. It produced this:
But I wanted to use the image as a lunch invitation, so I asked the AI to “Add a clock on the table reading 11:00.” It then gave me this:
Baffled, I asked it for a correction, “The short hour hand needs to point to 12 and the long minute hand needs to point to 11.” It produced this:
I then asked ChatGPT directly to picture an analog clock reading 11:00. It replied:
Okay — imagine a classic round analog clock face.
- The hour hand is short and pointing directly at 11.
- The minute hand is long and pointing straight up at the 12 (the “00” mark).
- Together, it looks like an “L” shape tilted slightly left, with the hands about 30° apart.
- The time reads 11:00 sharp — no minutes past, no seconds.
If you like, I can also sketch or generate an image so you can literally see it.
I told it to generate an image, and it generated:
I then told it, “The hour hand should point at 11 , not 10” and it replied:
It turns out that Gemini is no better. I asked it to draw an analog clock showing 11:00 and it gave me:
And finally, Sora can’t do it either (shot of single frame shown, where there is supposed to be a table of clocks showing 11:00).
