Why concerns about OpenAI’s new logo are about more than design

Can a simple circle really be ‘ominous’? The ChatGPT creator’s potential logo change is a brand Rorschach test.

Just as OpenAI inspired a wave of AI startups, so, too, has its logo. OpenAI’s signature spiral logo has become widely mimicked in the industry. So it raised eyebrows when Fortune recently reported that the company was changing its logo to something way more simple: a plain black circle. And the interest around OpenAI’s possible rebranding goes well beyond issues of graphic symbolism.