Apple Joins the Race to Establish a Significant AI Icon

Apple adds a new “Intelligence” icon to try to change how AI is shown in a world where design problems are still happening and different tech platforms have different ideas about what it means.

Apple has entered the race to make an AI icons that helps people understand what artificial intelligence is. Apple’s new “Intelligence” icon is a circle with seven loops inside it, or it could be a circle with an upside-down infinity figure inside it. That there is some confusion shows the bigger problem: nobody knows what AI should look like, but it has to be shown in user interfaces to show machine learning models.

In the beginning, AI icons were often robots, magic wands, or wizard hats, which made people think of inhumanity, rigidity, or inventions that didn’t make sense. These weren’t good ways to show how reliable and factual current AI is. The latest design trends lean towards simple, abstract, and nonthreatening shapes that don’t look like people.

Corporate logo design is affected by a strong vision, the need to make money, and compromises made by group. OpenAI, for instance, uses a black dot to represent a featureless hole for questions. Understanding the Microsoft Copilot image is impossible. Two websites, Google and Perplexity, use icons that have friendly forms but sharp edges.

It can be hard to make an icon that clearly shows AI. Unlike email or settings icons, which have simple symbols that everyone can understand, AI doesn’t have a simple visual picture. Companies are careful not to give AI too narrow of a definition because they want to keep up the idea that AI could possibly do anything.

People usually don’t pay attention to technical names and would rather use simple words like “ChatGPT” than version numbers. Names like “Bard” might not work for them, but “Gemini” might after focus testing. Apple’s method uses many logos and swirling colours to show AI action, which is similar to how AI is currently represented, which is in a vague and general way.