Missing crescent and stars: AI-generated National Day banner replaced after Chai Chee resident raises red flags
A Chai Chee resident was disappointed after discovering an AI-generated National Day banner with multiple inaccuracies in the neighbourhood, asking why designers were not commissioned to create the artwork.
Kampong Chai Chee Community Centre has since issued a statement saying that the banner was “promptly replaced”.
Ms Xu, a 46-year-old art practitioner, told Stomp that she spotted the banner on July 19 near Block 409 Bedok North.
A photo of the banner, which she shared on the SG Creative and Cultural Community Facebook group on July 20, showed four people looking out towards a city skyline. One child holds up a Singapore flag, while another raises what appears to be a pole.
On the left side of the banner, a red-and-white flag is depicted, but it is missing the crescent moon and stars on the Singapore flag.
Speaking to Stomp, Xu said her initial reaction was one of “disappointment”.
As someone working in the creative industry, Xu said she was “particularly disheartened” by the decision to use AI-generated imagery for the banner rather than commission a designer or artist to create the artwork.
Xu said the errors “should have been vetted by the authorities” before being displayed publicly, noting that the flag was missing key elements and that there was a “lack of ethnic representation”.
She acknowledged that the banner later included the crescent moon and stars after she raised the issue in her neighbourhood chat group. However, she added that she was unsure if it was a reprint or if someone had drawn over it.
The photo made rounds on the SingaporeRaw subreddit, as well as the Complaint Singapore Facebook page.
Xu added that there were two other banners hung in the neighbourhood that were seemingly created with the use of AI, although she noticed they were taken down by July 22.
Volunteers ‘not aware’ that AI-generated banner contained inaccuracies: Community Centre
Kampong Chai Chee Community Centre said in a Facebook post on July 21 that the banner was promptly replaced when concerns were raised.
“The banner was created and paid for by residents who came together to celebrate Singapore’s National Day and bring some festive cheer to our community,” the statement read.
The community centre added that many of the volunteers are seniors who gave their time to beautifying the estate, and were “not aware that the AI-generated banner contained inaccuracies”.
“It is also a timely reminder that while AI can be a useful tool, its output should always be carefully checked before it is used,” the post read.
Stomp has reached out to the community centre for more information.
‘Creative roles still matter’: Art director
On LinkedIn, art director Kenneth Tan shared a photo of the banner, saying that there were “plenty of graphical mistakes” in it.
“This is why creative roles still matter in an AI workflow,” Tan wrote in the post, adding that it “takes a trained eye” to spot the mistakes.
“And on the other end, knowing what to prompt (not just throwing in every detail and letting the tool figure it out) is just as essential to creating visuals that actually work.”
Speaking to Stomp, Tan also stressed the importance of verifying AI-generated content: “Vetting should still be thorough and go through proper approval processes (even if there’s urgency of the work to be delivered), before being rolled out to the public.”
In the comments section of the LinkedIn post, other netizens pointed out that “none of the buildings make sense”, asking whether graphic designers could have been consulted in the process.
In August 2024, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) came under fire after publishing a series of AI-generated posts on its social media pages.
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