Meta’s new AI logo looks like an AI version of Mural Arts Philadelphia’s logo

Meta released its new personal AI agent on Tuesday and named it Muse (like this bot is going to inspire humanity to write the next great tragedy and not relegate us to become the lead characters in one).

Of course, Muse could refer to the act of thinking about something very carefully, but that would be even more ironic, given that some experts in the field have sounded alarm bells that AI is advancing faster than humanity is prepared for.

Admittedly, I didn’t hear about the launch until two days after its release (I’m not a tech reporter and still keep a paper calendar), but I was surprised by how it did come to my attention.

In a post on Threads, user @rpennone pointed out how similar Muse’s stroke-like “M” logo is to the logo of one our city’s most beloved institutions, Mural Arts Philadelphia.

I pulled up the two logos on my computer, put them side-by-side, and it painted a pretty clear picture.

Typically an “M” is two sets of arches, sometimes with a little rat tail on the upper left side for flair. But both of these Ms have three peaks and valleys with little rat-tail flairs at both ends. Granted, Muse’s logo is blue, while Mural Arts’ is typically purple (though like Gritty’s belly button, it can change colors), and the former’s logo also has more fluid lines, while the latter’s are more rigid. Still, the resemblance is enough to make you go “Hmmm...”

Given how much people are worried about AI copying everything we create, this isn’t going to help the situation. Maybe nobody outside of Philly would catch it, but Mural Arts is a part of the very fabric of this city, part of its DNA, and someone here was bound to notice the similarity and defend its honor. Nobody paints our baby into a corner.

For its part, Mural Arts was very diplomatic about the matter. Spokesperson Frank Luzi told me there’s no concern on the nonprofit’s part about copyright infringement and there are no plans for legal action.

“They feel like they are two very different organizations,” he said.

Here’s the interesting thing, Muse’s logo was designed by a human who “cut my creative teeth in Philadelphia,” according to her website.

Jessica Hische is a lettering artist and author specializing in “typographical work for logos, film, books, and other commercial applications,” whose previous clients include companies like Target and Hallmark and people like Barack Obama and Wes Anderson. She’s based in Oakland, Calif., but graduated from Temple University’s Tyler School of Art and Architecture in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in design and illustration.

I reached out to ask her about the similarities in the logos. In an e-mailed statement, she said Meta contacted her after doing their own sketch of an M inspired by a pen stroke or scribble. She said she refined the design by “playing with the stroke angles, end treatments, and vertical rhythm.”

Hische sent me a screenshot of the “M” Meta provided her and 30-plus variations she worked on until she landed on the final version.

I had to squint pretty hard to detect the differences, but lettering isn’t my field of expertise. Meta’s initial version does look more rigid and even more like Mural Arts’ logo, while Hische’s is more fluid.

Hische said she was familiar with the Mural Arts program from her time in Philly, but hadn’t seen their logo, which was created by J2, a Philly-based branding company, and debuted in 2016.

“There’s definitely a resemblance (and it would have been even closer had we landed on the brushier versions of the “M” I had explored!) but ultimately what Meta hired me to do was to make the mark they had created less rigid and more fluid," Hische wrote. “The rigidity, regularity, and perfect symmetry are defining qualities of the Mural Arts M (along with the brush stroke treatment), and it’s a great logo.”

I appreciated Hische’s response and recognition of the resemblance. It’s not the first time logos have looked similar (Korean Air’s logo looks more like the Pepsi logo than the Pepsi logo does), but what’s still unclear is where or how Meta came up with the original “M” logo they asked Hische to fine-tune. It’s unclear because Meta did not return my requests for comment.

Later in the day, I saw Hische was catching flak online from people in her own field for a completely different reason.

Because the digital world is a creepy stalker, as I was scrolling on Threads that evening, my feed suddenly become flooded with posts from people I don’t follow about Hische. Users on Threads — which is owned by Meta — were both condemning her for working on Meta’s AI project and defending her for working on it. Hische also penned her own nine-part Thread explaining her rationale, which includes the line “I have literally been touching grass more because of AI” and ends with a pitch for her latest children’s book.

I couldn’t help but wonder if this is right where Threads wanted me to end up. Why did that initial post about the logos from someone I didn’t follow pop up in my feed? Why did it also end up in the feed of an editor who sent it my way, confirming for me I should write this piece?

I thought I was pulling a thread, but maybe Threads was pulling me all along.