Home Figma disables new AI design feature after being called out on social media

Figma disables new AI design feature after being called out on social media

TL:DR

  • Figma temporarily disables its new AI feature after accusations of it resembling Apple's Weather app.
  • CEO Dylan Field denies the AI tool was trained on existing app designs, citing commissioned design systems.
  • The feature will be re-enabled after a full QA pass, with no set date for the second launch yet.

After Figma’s new AI feature was called out for looking like Apple’s Weather app, the CEO Dylan Field has temporarily disabled it until they feel “confident” in standing behind its output.

The founder of NotBoring Software, Andy Allen, was the first to spot the similarities as he took to X to accuse Figma of ‘heavily’ training its tool on existing apps. The Figma CEO has denied the accusation in his response.

“Figma AI looks rather heavily trained on existing apps,” writes Andy Allen. He includes a side-by-side of Figma AI and Apple’s Weather app and says he tested the new tool three times and each output resulted in an almost carbon copy.

After, he issued a warning to any designers using the new ‘Make Design’ feature as he said “you may want to thoroughly check existing apps or modify the results heavily so that you don’t unknowingly land yourself in legal trouble.”

Figma CEO says accusations around data training are false

A day later, on July 2, Dylan Field replied to Allen’s comments. He said: “As we shared at Config last week – as well as on our blog, our website, and many other touchpoints – the Make Design feature is not trained on Figma content, community files or app designs.

“In other words, the accusations around data training in this tweet are false.”

The new feature is by the collaborative design tool company Figma.

He says ‘Make Design’ uses off-the-shelf LLMs combined with design systems that have been commissioned to be used by these models. He explains how within hours of seeing the tweet by Allen, they identified the issue which was “related to the underlying design systems that were created.

“Ultimately it is my fault for not insisting on a better QA process for this work and pushing our team hard to hit a deadline for Config.”

The tool will be re-enabled when a full QA pass has been completed on the underlying design system. While a date for the second launch isn’t yet known, the founder teases it by saying ‘more soon.’

Featured Image: Photo by Mariia Shalabaieva on Unsplash

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Sophie Atkinson
Tech Journalist

Sophie Atkinson is a UK-based journalist and content writer, as well as a founder of a content agency which focuses on storytelling through social media marketing. She kicked off her career with a Print Futures Award which champions young talent working in print, paper and publishing. Heading straight into a regional newsroom, after graduating with a BA (Hons) degree in Journalism, Sophie started by working for Reach PLC. Now, with five years experience in journalism and many more in content marketing, Sophie works as a freelance writer and marketer. Her areas of specialty span a wide range, including technology, business,…

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