Apple

Figma Suspends AI Design Tool Following Allegations of Mimicking Apple's Weather App

02 July 2024

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Paikan Begzad

Summary

Figma CEO Dylan Field has announced the temporary suspension of the company’s “Make Design” AI tool. This decision follows accusations that the feature was replicating the design of Apple’s Weather app. The issue was initially raised by Andy Allen, founder of NotBoring Software, who observed that Figma’s AI repeatedly generated designs nearly identical to Apple’s Weather app.

Allen shared his findings on X (formerly known as Twitter), alleging that Figma’s tool was extensively trained on existing app designs—an allegation that Field refutes.

"Figma AI appears to be heavily trained on existing apps. This is a 'weather app' using the new Make Designs feature, and the results are essentially Apple's Weather app," Allen posted on July 1, 2024.

The Make Design feature, integrated into Figma’s software, aims to generate user interface (UI) layouts and components from text prompts. Figma promoted the tool as a means for developers to quickly outline ideas and explore various design directions more efficiently.

Introduced during Figma’s Config conference, the company clarified that the AI was not trained on Figma content, community files, or app designs. Field reiterated this in his response on X, stating that the claims about data training were inaccurate.

However, the rapid rollout of new AI features appears to have overlooked necessary quality assurance measures. Some designers have expressed concerns that AI tools like Make Design could threaten jobs by democratizing digital design, while others believe AI can alleviate repetitive tasks, fostering more creative outputs. Allen's discovery intensified these concerns within the design community.

Allen advised designers to rigorously check or modify results from the Make Design feature to avoid potential legal issues. In response, Field acknowledged the shortcomings in their QA process and admitted the urgency to meet deadlines contributed to these issues.

"We identified the issue within hours of Allen’s tweet, which was related to the design systems used by the AI. It’s my fault for not ensuring a better QA process," Field admitted on X.

Apple has not commented on the matter. Figma referred to Field’s tweets as their official statement.

Field assured users that the Make Design feature will be disabled starting Tuesday and will remain inactive until a thorough QA review is completed.