ChatGPT’s Image Generator Is Awesome — But Struggles with Multilingual Text

ChatGPT’s image generator has quickly become popular—and it’s easy to see why. You type a few words, and it creates a picture based on your idea. Want a poster of a cat flying through space? It can do that in seconds. It’s fun, creative, and really impressive.

But there’s one thing it still struggles with: creating images that include text in languages other than English.

Great with English, Not So Great with Other Scripts

If you ask it to create an image with a sign that says “Open” in English, it usually gets it right.

Now try it with Hindi (“खुला”), Arabic (“مفتوح”), or Chinese (“开放”)—and things get messy. The letters often look strange or incorrect. Some might be broken or mixed up. The result might look like the right language at first, but on a closer look, it’s wrong.

This becomes a problem if you're designing something serious—like a poster, label, or educational graphic. Getting the text wrong can confuse people or give the wrong impression.

Why Does This Happen?

Most of the images used to train ChatGPT’s image tool include English words. That means it has learned what English text is supposed to look like.

But it hasn’t seen as many clear examples of other scripts like Arabic, Chinese, or Hindi. So when it tries to draw those letters, it doesn’t really know how they’re supposed to look. It guesses—and it often gets it wrong.

What Should You Keep in Mind?

• Use it for layout and ideas. ChatGPT is great for helping you design the background, style, and overall look of your image.
• Be careful with text. If your image needs to include words in another language, it’s better to leave the text out at first.
• Add the text later. Use a photo editor to add the correct words yourself after the image is generated.
• Double-check everything. Always look closely at the letters. If something doesn’t look right, fix it before using it.

The Bottom Line

ChatGPT’s image generator is a powerful tool. It helps bring ideas to life quickly and easily. But it’s not perfect—especially when it comes to using different languages in the images.

If you're working on something important that includes non-English text, it's best to handle the text separately for now. As the technology improves, we can expect better support for all languages. Until then, use it smartly—and keep an eye out for mistakes.