---
title: Can AI spot an obvious error in a news article?
url: https://calvin.my/posts/can-ai-spot-an-obvious-error-in-a-news-article
published: 2025-04-17
updated: 2026-09-17
category: AI
tags:
- Next by AI
- llm
summary: The post tests whether advanced AI models can detect a missing crescent moon in an illustration of Malaysia’s national flag published by a Malaysian newspaper. Using a Chinese prompt asking for obvious or controversial image errors, both GPT-4.5 and Claude 3.7 Sonnet flagged the flag as incorrect. However, Claude specifically identified the absent crescent and noted an additional diplomatic concern, while GPT-4.5 gave less relevant reasoning.
---

# Can AI spot an obvious error in a news article?

Recently, a Malaysian newspaper media published an illustration of Malaysia's national flag (the Jalur Gemilang) missing the crescent moon. This obvious error seems to have been neglected by several tiers of checking and was eventually published.

In this article, we use several of the most advanced AI models to see if they can spot the error.

* * *

## Our Prompts

The news article is in Chinese. We use a Chinese prompt, which says:

```markup
Please help me check the obvious or controversial errors in the picture.
List the incorrect words/images and the reasons.
```

![](https://camy-pub.s3.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/8dc7b5ed-ad9c-4684-a486-b7f81ee1eeb0.png)

* * *

## Candidate 1 - OpenAi GPT-4.5 

1. It says the Malaysian Flag is incorrect. But it does not mention the missing crescent, the reason is not legit.

2. It says the flag direction differs from the sail direction, which is against physics.

   ![](https://camy-pub.s3.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/c5ce84b1-1d76-4177-825e-ded9cc6fd23f.png)

* * *

## Candidate 2 - Anthropic Claude 3.7 Sonnet

1. It says the Malaysian Flag is incorrect. The blue area should consist of a crescent moon and 14-point stars. ( **Bingo** , this is what we are looking for!)

2. It says flying the flags of two sovereign countries on the same ship at the same time, and in similar positions and sizes, may be inappropriate in terms of diplomacy and maritime etiquette.

   ![](https://camy-pub.s3.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/d4215745-b115-4f67-9e08-5e041fdc969b.png)

* * *

## Conclusion

Both models pointed out the incorrect Malaysian flag, but 3.7 Sonnect gives the exact reason. Our winner is 3.7 Sonnect for this test.