What’s Wrong with using AI to Generate a Logo?

I work with a variety of clients, from seasoned attorneys to burgeoning rock stars. I see this same set of issues arising each time someone arrives with a prebuilt logo they modeled using AI. The short answer: if you do plan on using a AI generated logo, do proceed with caution.

Crafting my understanding of a proper logo took years, some trial and error, but mostly doing the research to find out what works and doesn’t work for a great performing logo. There are some serious downsided to using AI to brand your next project:

Since 2022, I have been seeing a huge surge of AI-generated logos from clients, as well as in the music scene. Let me offer the olive branch of, as a designer, I know how expensive I can be ;} AI is fast, it’s basically free, and, yeah, some of those designs are deliciously complex. I am speaking from the perspectice of someone who has to deal with these logos not only in web format, but actually getting those logos print ready so that my client can have swaggy patches, shirts, hats, stickers and merch. I have done my reading and because I am uniqely situation on the legal side of the desing world, I’d like to share some major red flags that you need to know about. So, before you choose to go the route of AI generated branding for your business, please tl;dr bear with me:

From my research, I can determine that there are 2 big reasons why one shouldn’t rely solely on AI generated images for branding:

1. Legally, You Don’t Own It

Ouch. I know.

If AI generated the image, you will not legally own it. Just because you typed the prompt, does not mean you own the results.

The U.S. Supreme Court clarified earler this year by declining to hear the appeal of a lower court ruling in Thaler v. Perlmutter, the Supreme Court let stand that AI-generated art cannot be copyrighted, even if it plagerizing the art of an existing artist.

What does that mean for you?

If your logo is AI-generated, it may fall into the public domain. And if that’s the case, anyone—including your competitors—can use it. Good luck trying to enforce ownership or build a defensible brand around that.

2. Logo Might be a Screen Queen, but She Fails to Print

This is more practical, basic reason that AI generated logos fail. There comes a time in every entrepeneurs’ story arch where they crave the holy grail of swag. Attempting to print a highly detailed, complex AI generated image generally translates from pixels to print disaster. While that line work looks great on screen, all those colors, tiny gradients and fine details makes it difficult to translate as a physical item.

AI logos often look incredible on screen. Intricate linework, gradients, layered detail—it’s eye candy. But when it comes time to print? Different story. All those tiny lines, overlapping shapes, and subtle color shifts don’t translate well to physical media—especially embroidery or screen printing. What looks amazing digitally turns into a production headache. Expect a lot of back-and-forth with your printer. Expect extra costs. Expect simplification.

If your logo has 33 microscopic lines and 14 shades of blue, it’s not getting embroidered.
Sorry—no sick patches, bro.

A well-designed logo is created with real-world application in mind from the start. Skipping that step usually means paying for it later.

3. It Takes Work from an Actual Person

Okay, yes—this one’s a little personal.

But it matters. AI is a tool, not a toy. (Same rule applies as when I hand my kid a Sharpie.) Using AI to generate ideas or visual references? Totally valid. That can actually help communicate your vision to a designer. But relying on AI to replace the process entirely? That’s where things start to fall apart—creatively, legally, and practically.

There are plenty of bad logos out there. Maybe it was AI. Maybe a designer lost an argument with a client. Who knows.

But we can do better. So we should do better.

Always be learning!

Cheers,

Amanda

PS— I’ll be posting next about what actually makes a logo perform well. And as always, I’m happy to hop on a call to make sure your logo is set up for success.

Unless you’re a black metal band. I can never read those. (I think that’s the point.)

I learned that the hard way at Hell’s Heroes 2024—thought I was seeing “Fuzzy Caterpillar.”
It was actually Departure Chandelier.

They do, in fact, slay.