Can AI image models spell a headline correctly? A pre-ship text check

Sometimes, and you cannot tell by looking at the model name. OpenAI's image guide (read 2026-10-06) says its image models can still struggle with precise text placement and clarity. Google's Gemini image docs (read 2026-10-06) describe legible text for things like infographics, menus and diagrams. Both are claims about capability, not guarantees about your headline.

So treat text in an image as something you verify, every time, before the image leaves your team.

A check that takes a minute

Have a person read the finished image and type exactly what they see into a text file. The script compares that against the wording you asked for and fails when they differ. It is deliberately dull: no scoring model, no threshold you cannot explain.

import difflib, sys

def check(expected: str, seen: str) -> int:
    a, b = expected.strip(), seen.strip()
    if a == b:
        print("exact match")
        return 0
    ratio = difflib.SequenceMatcher(None, a, b).ratio()
    print(f"MISMATCH ratio={ratio:.2f}")
    for op, i1, i2, j1, j2 in difflib.SequenceMatcher(None, a, b).get_opcodes():
        if op != "equal":
            print(f"  {op}: asked {a[i1:i2]!r} saw {b[j1:j2]!r}")
    return 1

if __name__ == "__main__":
    if len(sys.argv) != 3:
        raise SystemExit("usage: check.py EXPECTED SEEN")
    sys.exit(check(sys.argv[1], sys.argv[2]))

Where Sume helps and where it does not

A workable loop

• Generate the layout once at low or medium quality and approve the design, not the words.
• Run an edit pass that changes only the headline, and keep the other elements in the instruction as unchanged.
• Run the check. If it fails, edit again from the last good file, not from scratch.
• Cap the attempts at three. If the word still fails, set the headline in your design tool instead.

Do not forget the alt text

W3C's images tutorial (read 2026-10-06) says that when an image contains text, the text needs to be in the alt attribute unless it appears elsewhere on the page. Store the approved wording with the file so the page author does not have to retype it from the picture.