Businesses of all sizes have adopted generative AI into their marketing, sales, and day-to-day operations. It’s predicted that by 2026, over 80% of companies will have some iteration of AI in their operations.

Back in 2023, this number hovered around 5%, so this would be a big jump in a short time.

And while AI has made it easier for businesses to take care of smaller tasks, this technology has its weaknesses, especially if the goal is to design with it. Since generative AI is trained on existing data and content, what you get might fall short of your expectations.

AI logo design is an example of this. Using a cheap, online AI logo maker gives you a quick, inexpensive result, yes. But if you like a particular part of the design, refining it with the builder is difficult. Even worse, it often doesn’t produce a distinctive enough logo design to be trademarked.

We’ve run into it with clients who end up paying to use these AI building services only to turn to us to fix or redesign the logo entirely, defeating the purpose of using a “cheaper” option.

If you’ve considered using an AI logo generator for your business, we’ll explore why they leave a few things to be desired when your objective is to develop a strong and lasting brand identity.

AI logo makers vs. design agencies

As a design agency, we’ll admit that we’re a little biased. However, we can acknowledge the benefits and the most likely reasons you would want to use an AI logo maker.

First, it’s quick. You can type in a prompt and produce multiple logo options in a few minutes, if not, seconds. Second, it’s convenient. You go to a site, put in your information, and you’re up and running in minutes. And third, it’s cheap. If you have a smaller budget, these builders offer inexpensive or even free options.

This all sounds great, right?

Not if you want a professional logo design that grows with your business. We say this because generative AI logo builders don’t think. Instead, they create designs based on existing datasets, structures, and patterns. What you get is a composite of those preexisting images.

Now, what is the flip side when you work with a branding and design agency? The designers working there do think, and they, unlike AI logo generators, get to know your business, goals, and what you envision for your brand in the future.

The logo they design is based on what your business represents now and what it plans to be in the future. Designers want to tell your brand story through your logo. Since it’s usually the first piece in your brand identity, your human designer cares about getting it right.

Strategically designing a unique logo with designers

Your perfect logo should be designed based on a larger long-term strategy. We’ve previously discussed what this entails and why it’s so important to your brand and future marketing.

AI logo builders ask you to provide keywords describing your brand, but they don’t ask questions about your business, strategy, or goals.

Sadly, AI doesn’t care about any of it—not about your values, mission, customers, or brand longevity. It just takes orders, and sometimes not even that well.

When you work with a design agency, the process from start to finish takes longer because the creative team there want to understand your business.

This starts with discovery, which critically examines the very things AI logo generators do not. It means asking important questions about what your business does, who your customers are, and how your company impacts their lives, among other things.

It’s an exercise that sets up the building blocks for the rest of your brand, including solidifying its identity and protecting its trademark.

Avoiding legal risks with human-made logos

Before diving into this next section, we’re going to put it out there that we’re not attorneys, and this isn’t legal advice.

That said, there are several instances where artists, writers, and image repositories like Getty Images have filed lawsuits against artificial intelligence companies. Why? Because the AI was alleged to have been trained on their images, text, and intellectual property.

Many of the cases currently under litigation still have a lot of hurdles to clear to answer the question of whether trademark infringement applies to AI-generated creations.

AI-generated logos could put you in a precarious situation since they may echo the design of an existing mark, leading to potentially infringing on their trademark.

But there’s a way to avoid a potentially costly legal battle.

Every country has its own rules regarding copyright and trademark law, but if we look at the U.S. Copyright Office, they specify that for a work to be eligible for registration, it must be created by a human being.

Professional design agencies, like ours, have processes in place to prevent creating business logo options that copy other IPs. This includes researching your competitors’ brands and running the logo designs through tools like Google Lens to make sure it doesn’t appear anywhere else.

Collaboration throughout the design process

The fine-tuning that happens when designing your company logo is what can take it from good to great. It’s in these details where you can create a one-of-a-kind mark. But you can do only so much with AI builders to tweak the final logo design, and creating more advanced designs that inject symbolism becomes difficult.

Design agencies work with you to narrow down the options to one you love and then refine it based on your feedback. This collaboration takes longer, but it provides the certainty that your input matters and you’re getting the expertise of a professional.

Choosing human designers over AI logo generators

Your logo is one of the crucial parts of your brand identity. We understand that using an AI logo generator is tempting because of the time and cost savings. But what you gain in convenience, you could risk producing something unoriginal, or worse, potentially making your business vulnerable to legal issues.

The work that goes into creating a beautiful logo extends beyond its design. Design agencies undergo an extensive logo design process to make sure the final result is unique and authentically represents your business. Compared to AI logo builders, partnering with human designers gives you the creative expertise required to produce a mark that grows with your business instead of serving as a temporary placeholder.