Getting ChatGPT to display the correct lift buttons for a screen shot

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Getting ChatGPT to display the correct lift buttons for a screen shot
For a competition I wanted to create a picture showing the buttons of a lift as the digits of pi (so 3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9, etc), to represent the film "The Lift of Pi". How hard could this be?

Posted by Andy Brown on 24 September 2025

In this blog

Version 1 - nearly there already
Version 2 - even closer
Version 3 - iteration away from the mean
Version 4 - moving further away
Version 5 - a huge new rewrite
Version 6 - starting again

This is a blog written out of pure frustration. I've recently recorded a series of videos on using AI tools, and explained in this how rare hallucination is nowadays and how hard it is to create a prompt which will lead AI tools like ChatGPT astray. And then I tried to create this image:

I wanted the buttons as the digits of pi, to represent "The Lift of Pi", a misprint of the famous film about a man stuck on a raft with a Bengal tiger.

How hard could this be?

Version 1 - nearly there already

So it started off so promisingly! I asked this simple question:

Create a picture of the inside of a lift. the buttons must be clearly visible, and must go (from bottom to top):

3 1 4 1 5 9 ...

So there should be 7 buttons in all.

ChatGPT got this nearly perfect first time!

So close! Now all I have to do is change a couple of the buttons ...

Version 2 - even closer

So I used ChatGPT's new(ish) in-painting facility to select the buttons:

I've made it quite clear where the problem lies.

I then typed in this prompt:

Perfect, except these buttons are wrong. They should go (in this order) 3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9 and then a button showing an ellipsis (3 dots).

I thought I was pretty clear in what I wanted, but it seems I wasn't, as ChatGPT produced this image:

Nearly there!

I have to warn you, reader, that this represents the high-water mark of my attempt to get the buttons correctly displayed. From now on we enter a dark world of failure and despair.

Version 3 - iteration away from the mean

So I selected the only button which was wrong:

The offending button.

And I asked ChatGPT to change it:

This button should say 3

To be fair, ChatGPT did what I wanted, but sadly extended its brief:

So ChatGPT has done what I asked, but also changed buttons which I didn't ask it to change!

Version 4 - moving further away

At this point I still had some patience left. I selected the buttons which were now wrong:

These are the problem buttons now.

And asked ChatGPT to change these:

Please change these buttons to say 1, 5 and an ellipsis (3 dots)

And got this:

Rather than changing the buttons, ChatGPT has got rid of some of them.

Version 5 - a huge new rewrite

I was getting a bit exasperated now, so went for a redraw:

OK, let's try again. Please focus on getting this right - this is about my 5th attempt. I want the buttons to go (in order) 3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9 followed by a button showing an ellipsis (3 dots). Please try really hard to get the right buttons in the right order!

Sometimes if you emphasise the importance of a task to ChatGPT it will indeed try harder, and sure enough - it did!

I dread to think how much electricity this is using ...

The result of all this cogitation? The worst attempt yet:

I've lost the rest of the lift, and the buttons aren't even in the same font size any more.

Version 6 - starting again

OK, I thought, maybe the memory for this chat is messing things up. So I started with a brand new chat and this prompt:

Create a picture of the inside of a lift. the buttons must be clearly visible, and must go (from bottom to top): 3 1 4 1 5 9 ... So there should be 7 buttons in all.

It is absolutely vital that the buttons go in this order and have these numbers on them! So ...

The first button should have 3

The first button should have 1

The first button should have 4

The first button should have 1

The first button should have 5

The first button should have 9

The first button should have ...

I felt that this was pretty unambiguous. ChatGPT disagreed ...

What on earth made ChatGPT decide to put one of the buttons "below the line"?

At this point I gave up, went back to one of the first screen shots and manually edited it to get the image I wanted!

Some other pages relevant to the above blog include:

Training courses in AI (Artificial Intelligence)

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Version 1 - nearly there already

Version 2 - even closer

Version 3 - iteration away from the mean

Version 4 - moving further away

Version 5 - a huge new rewrite

Version 6 - starting again

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