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>> - Put a strawberry in the left eye socket. >>- Put a blackberry in the right eye socket. >> All five of the edits are implemented correctly This is a GREAT

by skeeter2020 11mo ago

>> - Put a strawberry in the left eye socket. >>- Put a blackberry in the right eye socket. >> All five of the edits are implemented correctly This is a GREAT example of the (not so) subtle mistakes AI will make in image generation, or code creation, or your future knee surgery. The model placed the specified items in the eye sockets based on the viewers left/right; when we talk relative in this scenario we usually (always?) mean from the perspective of the target or "owner". Doctors make this mistake too (they typically mark the correct side with a sharpie while the patient is still alert) but I'd be more concerned if we're "outsourcing" decision making without adequate oversight. https://minimaxir.com/2025/11/nano-banana-prompts/#hello-nano-banana https://minimaxir.com/2025/11/nano-banana-prompts/#hello-nan...

0x457 11mo ago
Right, that's why one should use "put a strawberry in the portside eye socket" and "put a strawberry in the starboard side socket"
- iammattmurphy 11mo ago
  When it doubt, always use nautical terminology
Jabrov 11mo ago
I don't know if that's so much a mistake as it is ambiguity though? To me, using the viewer's perspective in this case seems totally reasonable. Does it still use the viewer's perspective if the prompt specifies "Put a strawberry in the _patient's left eye_"? If it does, then you're onto something. Otherwise I completely disagree with this.
- ComputerGuru 11mo ago
  “Eye on the left” is different from “the left eye”. First can be ambiguous, second really isn’t.
  - simonw 11mo ago
    I think "the left eye" in this particular case (a photo of a skull made of pancake batter) is still very slightly ambiguous. "The skull's left eye" would not be.
  - recursive 11mo ago
    I guess there's some ambiguity regarding whether or not this can be ambiguous. Because it seems like it can to me.
  - Dylan16807 11mo ago
    Interesting, because I would say the opposite. "On the left" suggests left of image, "the left eye" could be any version of left.
- withinboredom 11mo ago
  “The right socket” can only be implied one way when talking about a body just like you only have one right hand despite the fact that it is on my left when looking at you.
  - pphysch 11mo ago
    "Plug into right power socket" Same language, opposite meaning because of a particular noun + context. I think the only thing obvious here is that there is no obvious solution other than adding lots of clarification to your prompt.
    - withinboredom 11mo ago
      I think you missed the entire point?
      - swores 11mo ago
        No, they just disagree with you.
        withinboredom 11mo ago
        How do you disagree with having a right and a left hand?
        TylerE 11mo ago
        GP is using right as in “correct”, not directionality.
        degamad 11mo ago
        No, I don't think they are. If you are facing a wall-plate with two power sockets on it side by side and you are telling someone to plug something in, which one would be "the right socket", and which would be "the left socket"? If above the wall-plate is a photo of a person and you are someone to draw a tattoo on the photo, which is "the right arm" and which is "the left arm"? Same wording, different expectation.
CGMthrowaway 11mo ago
>This is a GREAT example of the (not so) subtle mistakes AI will make in image generation, or code creation, or your future knee surgery. The mistake is in the prompting (not enough information). The AI did the best it could "What's the biggest known planet" "Jupiter" "NO I MEANT IN THE UNIVERSE!"
- bigstrat2003 11mo ago
  No, this is squarely on the AI. A human would know what you mean without specific instructions.
  - jaggederest 11mo ago
    I would not, I would clarify, and I think I'm a human.
  - siffin 11mo ago
    Seems like you're making a judgment based on your own experience, but as another commenter pointed out, it was wrong. There are plenty of us out there who would confirm, because people are too flawed to trust. Humans double/triple check, especially under higher stakes conditions (surgery). Heck, humans are so flawed, they'll put the things in the wrong eye socket even knowing full well exactly where they should go - something a computer literally couldn't do.
    - rullelito 11mo ago
      Why on earth would the fallback when a prompt is under specified be to do something no human expects?
    - rodrigodlu 11mo ago
      Intelligence in my book includes error correction. Questioning possible mistakes is part of wisdom. So the understanding that AI and HI are different entities altogether with only a subset of communication protocols between them will become more and more obvious, like some comments here are already implicitly telling.
minimaxir 11mo ago
I meant to add a clarification to that point (because the ambiguity is a valid counterpoint), thanks for the reminder.
oasisbob 11mo ago
There's a classic well-illustrated book, _How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive_, which spends a whole illustrated page at the beginning building up a reference frame for working on the vehicle. Up is sky, down is ground, front is always vehicle's front, left is always vehicle's left. Sounds a bit silly to write it out, but the diagram did a great job removing ambiguity when you expect someone to be laying on the ground in a tight place looking backwards, upside down. Also feels important to note that in the theatre, there is stage-right and stage-left, jargon to disambiguate even though the jargon expects you to know the meaning to understand it.
- bo1024 11mo ago
  Port and starboard I guess car people use “driver side” and passenger side”, but the same car might be sold in mirror image versions
lifthrasiir 11mo ago
That was a big problem when I was toying around the original Nano Banana. I always prompted the perspective of the (imaginary) camera, and yet NB often interpreted that as that of the target, giving no way to select the opposite side. Since the selected side is generally closer to the camera, my usual workaround is to force the side far from the camera. And yet that was not perfect.
crazygringo 11mo ago
> when we talk relative in this scenario we usually (always?) mean from the perspective of the target or "owner". I dunno... I feel pretty confident 99% percent of people would do the same thing, and put the strawberry in the eye socket to our left, the viewer's. You really have to be trained explicitly to put yourself in the subject's shoes, and very few people are. To me, the model is correctly following the instructions most people will mean. And it's not even incorrect. "The left x" is linguistically ambiguous. If you say "the left flower", it's obviously the flower to our left. So when you say "the left eye socket", the eye socket to our left is a valid interpretation. If they had said their or its left eye socket, then it's more arguable that it must be from the subject's side. But that's not the case in this example.
- threetonesun 11mo ago
  There's a puzzle in the latest Indiana Jones game that exploits the fact that yes, most people would do the same thing.

0x457 11mo ago

Right, that's why one should use "put a strawberry in the portside eye socket" and "put a strawberry in the starboard side socket"

iammattmurphy 11mo ago
When it doubt, always use nautical terminology

Jabrov 11mo ago

I don't know if that's so much a mistake as it is ambiguity though? To me, using the viewer's perspective in this case seems totally reasonable. Does it still use the viewer's perspective if the prompt specifies "Put a strawberry in the _patient's left eye_"? If it does, then you're onto something. Otherwise I completely disagree with this.

ComputerGuru 11mo ago
“Eye on the left” is different from “the left eye”. First can be ambiguous, second really isn’t.
- simonw 11mo ago
  I think "the left eye" in this particular case (a photo of a skull made of pancake batter) is still very slightly ambiguous. "The skull's left eye" would not be.
- recursive 11mo ago
  I guess there's some ambiguity regarding whether or not this can be ambiguous. Because it seems like it can to me.
- Dylan16807 11mo ago
  Interesting, because I would say the opposite. "On the left" suggests left of image, "the left eye" could be any version of left.
withinboredom 11mo ago
“The right socket” can only be implied one way when talking about a body just like you only have one right hand despite the fact that it is on my left when looking at you.
- pphysch 11mo ago
  "Plug into right power socket" Same language, opposite meaning because of a particular noun + context. I think the only thing obvious here is that there is no obvious solution other than adding lots of clarification to your prompt.
  - withinboredom 11mo ago
    I think you missed the entire point?
    - swores 11mo ago
      No, they just disagree with you.
      - withinboredom 11mo ago
        How do you disagree with having a right and a left hand?
        TylerE 11mo ago
        GP is using right as in “correct”, not directionality.
        degamad 11mo ago
        No, I don't think they are. If you are facing a wall-plate with two power sockets on it side by side and you are telling someone to plug something in, which one would be "the right socket", and which would be "the left socket"? If above the wall-plate is a photo of a person and you are someone to draw a tattoo on the photo, which is "the right arm" and which is "the left arm"? Same wording, different expectation.

CGMthrowaway 11mo ago

>This is a GREAT example of the (not so) subtle mistakes AI will make in image generation, or code creation, or your future knee surgery. The mistake is in the prompting (not enough information). The AI did the best it could "What's the biggest known planet" "Jupiter" "NO I MEANT IN THE UNIVERSE!"

bigstrat2003 11mo ago
No, this is squarely on the AI. A human would know what you mean without specific instructions.
- jaggederest 11mo ago
  I would not, I would clarify, and I think I'm a human.
- siffin 11mo ago
  Seems like you're making a judgment based on your own experience, but as another commenter pointed out, it was wrong. There are plenty of us out there who would confirm, because people are too flawed to trust. Humans double/triple check, especially under higher stakes conditions (surgery). Heck, humans are so flawed, they'll put the things in the wrong eye socket even knowing full well exactly where they should go - something a computer literally couldn't do.
  - rullelito 11mo ago
    Why on earth would the fallback when a prompt is under specified be to do something no human expects?
  - rodrigodlu 11mo ago
    Intelligence in my book includes error correction. Questioning possible mistakes is part of wisdom. So the understanding that AI and HI are different entities altogether with only a subset of communication protocols between them will become more and more obvious, like some comments here are already implicitly telling.

minimaxir 11mo ago

I meant to add a clarification to that point (because the ambiguity is a valid counterpoint), thanks for the reminder.

oasisbob 11mo ago

There's a classic well-illustrated book, _How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive_, which spends a whole illustrated page at the beginning building up a reference frame for working on the vehicle. Up is sky, down is ground, front is always vehicle's front, left is always vehicle's left. Sounds a bit silly to write it out, but the diagram did a great job removing ambiguity when you expect someone to be laying on the ground in a tight place looking backwards, upside down. Also feels important to note that in the theatre, there is stage-right and stage-left, jargon to disambiguate even though the jargon expects you to know the meaning to understand it.

bo1024 11mo ago
Port and starboard I guess car people use “driver side” and passenger side”, but the same car might be sold in mirror image versions

lifthrasiir 11mo ago

That was a big problem when I was toying around the original Nano Banana. I always prompted the perspective of the (imaginary) camera, and yet NB often interpreted that as that of the target, giving no way to select the opposite side. Since the selected side is generally closer to the camera, my usual workaround is to force the side far from the camera. And yet that was not perfect.

crazygringo 11mo ago

> when we talk relative in this scenario we usually (always?) mean from the perspective of the target or "owner". I dunno... I feel pretty confident 99% percent of people would do the same thing, and put the strawberry in the eye socket to our left, the viewer's. You really have to be trained explicitly to put yourself in the subject's shoes, and very few people are. To me, the model is correctly following the instructions most people will mean. And it's not even incorrect. "The left x" is linguistically ambiguous. If you say "the left flower", it's obviously the flower to our left. So when you say "the left eye socket", the eye socket to our left is a valid interpretation. If they had said their or its left eye socket, then it's more arguable that it must be from the subject's side. But that's not the case in this example.

threetonesun 11mo ago
There's a puzzle in the latest Indiana Jones game that exploits the fact that yes, most people would do the same thing.