I’ve covered my fair share of tech events, and since AI became the cool new buzzword every company had to include, things have taken a… sparkly turn. Many tech companies have chosen star or star-like symbols to represent their AI products, and today’s Samsung Unpacked event for the Galaxy S25s was certainly star-studded. But it’s 2025. And I need tech companies to stop. Now.
Frankly, in 2025, using sparkles for AI is tired. Boring. So is shaping an entire tech event around AI, especially if you can’t meaningfully explain what makes your AI different and useful.
Samsung may have thought that the stars would be a good visual representation at its Unpacked event today, where it introduced the new Galaxy S25, S25 Plus and S25 Ultra with, of course, its Galaxy AI at the center of them all. It was a star-studded event, which I guess makes a little bit of sense for Samsung’s Galaxy AI, since there are stars in the galaxy. But it’s not the only company to do this. Google’s Gemini AI uses star icons as well, and it’s invaded everything from Search to Gmail. Meta’s AI has some low-key sparkles, too, like in the watermark of its Imagined AI images.
But my problem with tech bros using the sparkles emoji is more than a weary aesthetic. It’s that the companies have a fundamental misunderstanding of what the sparkles emoji actually means.
The sparkles emoji is special. It’s not the boring, basic star (⭐) that your grandma sends you. It’s not this one (💫) that’s supposed to represent being dizzy but is most commonly used by HR to tell you that you’re a shooting star. This glowing star (🌟) gets an honorable mention for being quirky and bold, but none of them compare to ✨ her ✨.
The sparkles emoji is so versatile and has many meanings. It’s used for emphasis, to add a little flair, a little personality to your messages. It says you’re fun, that you don’t take yourself too seriously. It’s almost always used when you’re being sarcastic; it’s the more fun, emoji version of this ~tilde~. In my opinion, ✨ is for the folks who are just a girl. (The Notting Hill reference and meme, not the gender construct. Folks of all genders can and should use ✨.)
Beyond the literal interpretation, I have to assume tech companies are intentionally branding its AI with the sparkles and stars. Maybe they think they can put stars in our eyes to distract us from more malicious consequences of AI, including privacy concerns, the environmental impact and potential job losses. Or, maybe it’s that stars are remote and can seem bright and mysterious — the way AI companies wish to be while obscuring the inner workings of their chatbots and companies. Sparkles symbolize the magic of new tech without forcing us to ask deeper questions.
Well, I refuse to ignore those implications. And I demand that these tech companies drop the sparkle aesthetic in the meantime. It’s not for them.