“The text in your artwork is misspelled and can’t be edited”: How to fix misspelled text in an AI image

Why printers ask for this

An AI image model doesn’t type. It predicts pixels, and letters are just more pixels to it. Short headlines often come out right. Small print, long lines, numbers and web addresses are where errors hide. OpenAI’s image guide still lists text as a limitation: the model can struggle with precise text placement and clarity.

Errors are easy to read past, because you see the word you expect. On the GameMaster board game box, the AI front said 7 game modes and the back described six. It was corrected to six before printing.

Even when the spelling is right, painted text is a print problem. It is only as sharp as the picture’s pixels, so small type prints soft, and once the image is converted to CMYK, black letters are usually built from all four inks instead of black alone. Real text is vector: it prints crisp at any size and takes seconds to correct.

How to replace the text in an AI image with real type

1. Write the correct wording down first, in a plain document, and have someone else read it. This is what you’ll proofread against.
2. Remove the painted text. In Photoshop, paint over the words with the Remove tool, or select them and use Edit → Content-Aware Fill. In Canva, select the image and use Magic Eraser, or Grab Text (Pro), which lifts the words off the picture into text boxes you can edit or delete.
3. Look at what’s left behind. If the patch is smeared, put a flat color or a simple shape behind the new text. A clean panel reads better than a patched one.
4. Find a matching font. In Photoshop, select the old lettering with the Rectangular Marquee tool and choose Type → Match Font. In Illustrator, choose Window → Retype, then Find Matching Fonts. An exact match is unlikely, because the letters were drawn, so pick the closest one you’re licensed to use.
5. Type every word again as real text, in a design program rather than an image editor if you can (Illustrator, InDesign, Affinity or Canva), so it stays vector in the PDF.
6. Keep small text at a printable size: 6 pt or larger for most jobs, and bigger when it’s light text on a dark background. The text too small page has the minimums.
7. Proofread the print file against your document, character by character for numbers, prices, addresses and web links. Then export a PDF and check the text is live or outlined, not flattened into the image.

Or send it to us

• Take the painted words out of the image and repair the background behind them
• Set all the text again as real type, in the closest matching licensed font
• Proofread against the wording you send, and flag anything that reads wrong or contradicts another panel
• Export a print-ready PDF with crisp vector text, and black type in black ink only