OpenAI may be making a big change next year, including a new logo. However, according to Fortune, when employees got a glimpse of its alleged new logo at a recent company-wide meeting, they weren’t too excited.
The company’s hexagonal flower symbol, which had become quite recognizable due to the popularity of ChatGPT, is no longer there. Instead, it has been replaced with a large black “O” or a simple ring or circle, which employees reportedly found devoid of creativity — even ominous.
Based on the way the publication’s sources have described it, the new logo seems to be the exact opposite of OpenAI’s current logo, which was designed to represent “precision, capability, and optimism.” The company began its redesign efforts a year ago after hiring new people for its internal creative and design team.
Fortune says that one of the reasons OpenAI went for the new look is that its logo and the typefaces used for its website are not owned by it. The company, perhaps, wants to further strengthen its identity as it has become a well-known name.
Fortune also previously reported that OpenAI is changing its complex nonprofit corporate structure next year. The company started out as a nonprofit, and a nonprofit still controls its for-profit arm.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reportedly told employees that the company is moving away from its nonprofit structure and becoming a more traditional for-profit company. However, if OpenAI leaders listen to employee feedback, the new OpenAI will launch with a different logo and not one that even its own people consider frightening.
While OpenAI and SoftBank will serve as the lead partners of the Stargate project, several other companies are involved in the initiative. In addition to OpenAI, Arm, NVIDIA, Oracle, and of course, Microsoft will be its key initial technology partners. The company’s official announcement said that OpenAI, NVIDIA, and Oracle will work together to “build and operate this computing system,” though it didn’t explain what that means.
As far as Microsoft is concerned, the company has posted an announcement about its involvement in the project and said that it will continue its “strategic partnership” with OpenAI. Microsoft will still have the right to use OpenAI IP on its products, and the OpenAI API will still run exclusively on Azure.
However, it will no longer be OpenAI’s exclusive provider of computing capacity. Microsoft will have a “right of first refusal” whenever OpenAI requires additional capacity as its needs grow, meaning that the ChatGPT-maker will have to check with Microsoft before working with other parties.
Stargate Project is immediately releasing $100 billion for its first data center buildout, starting with one in Texas. As TechCrunch notes, it previously reported that OpenAI was in talks with Oracle to lease a data center in Abilene, Texas, that could reach nearly one gigawatt of power by 2026. It didn’t mention any other sites, but it said it was evaluating “potential” locations across the country.