--- title: "OpenAI Staff Upset by Company’s Horrendous New Logo" description: "The new logo, which is literally just a black circle, was unveiled at a recent company wide meeting, where it was met with distaste." date: "2024-09-23" modified: "2024-09-23" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/openai-staff-upset-new-logo" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "chatgpt" - "generative ai" - "OpenAI" - "the digest" --- # OpenAI Staff Upset by Company’s Horrendous New Logo ![The new logo, which is literally just a black circle, was unveiled at a recent company wide meeting, where it was met with distaste.]() *\Image: Futurism \* ## O My You've probably noticed how a lot of companies these days are [stripping down their logos]() in favor of something more "minimalist." ChatGPT maker OpenAI is apparently about to head down the same path — much to the chagrin of some of the people working there. As [*Fortune* reports](), OpenAI unveiled its ongoing redesign efforts at a recent company-wide meeting, according to the magazine's sources. That included new typefaces, but most of all, a new logo: a large — and not particularly distinct — black "O." (No pictures available yet, but it's not hard to imagine.) This change wasn't received well by many of the company's staff, some of whom were vocal about their distaste. Beyond seeming creatively bankrupt, some found the new logo to be outright "ominous." Maybe it's the gaping void evinced by the ring now occupying where the company's iconic geometric flower should be. Just a guess. While it's still just a proposed logo at this point, the fact that OpenAI is serious about potentially using it is a case in point of the company's [foundering efforts]() to consolidate its brand as its [product names continue to fall flat](). ## Brand Spanking New As *Fortune* notes, the new logo is a dramatic departure from OpenAI's iconic floral symbol, which is meant to evoke "precision, potential and optimism." It's hard to imagine any of those being embodied in the new one. In fact, OpenAI's whole proposed redesign borders on self-parody — as if it saw [Microsoft]() and [Google]() flattening their logos and decided to take the trend towards minimalism to its extreme. Except OpenAI's logo is already pretty minimal to begin with. And now it wants to take that and turn it into literally just a circle? Huh? This is the kind of aesthetic virtuosity produced by around a year of redesign work, according to *Fortune*, coinciding with when OpenAI brought on new creative hires. Sounds like they've been busy. To be fair, part of the motivation behind the brand shift is that the company doesn't actually own some of the typefaces it uses. That excuse, though, doesn't apply to the floral logo itself, which was designed in-house. So, back to the same question: *why?* ## Face-Off There's not a lot of companies that can claim to have become the face of a new paradigm in technology and culture in just a matter of years. Think of how quickly the public has gone from not even knowing what the terms "generative AI" or "large language model" meant, to them becoming tangible products that [hundreds of millions of people now use]() and argue about at dinner. And largely, OpenAI is the name that people associate with this new age of AI, with its logo being its "most recognizable brand element," as the company once said of itself, per *Fortune*. We're sure the company has its reasons for risking some of that brand recognition, but it really sounds like it's just shooting itself in the foot. **More on OpenAI:** *[OpenAI Says It's Fixed Issue Where ChatGPT Appeared to Be Messaging Users Unprompted]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()