Andy Allen, founder of NotBoring Software, has played a pivotal role in the recent developments at Figma. He was the first to bring to light the issue of Figma’s AI feature replicating Apple’s Weather app, leading to the temporary suspension of the 'Make Design' tool.
Allen accused Figma of heavily training its tool on existing apps, a claim that Figma CEO Dylan Field denied. The Make Design feature, which generates UI layouts and components from text prompts, was introduced at Figma’s Config conference last week. The company emphasized that the feature was not trained on Figma content, community files, or app designs. Field reiterated this point in his response to the accusations on X, formerly Twitter.
The AI tool was designed to help developers quickly outline their ideas and explore different design directions. However, the rushed launch to stay competitive led to quality assurance issues, resulting in the unintended replication of existing app designs.
Field acknowledged the oversight and the need for a more rigorous QA process. He stated that within hours of seeing Allen’s tweet, the team identified the problem, which stemmed from the underlying design systems used by the AI models. As a result, Figma decided to turn off the Make Design feature until a thorough quality assurance review could be completed.
The controversy surrounding Figma's AI tool has ignited a larger discussion within the design community. It has raised concerns about the potential job displacement due to the accessibility of digital design through AI tools like 'Make Design '. However, it has also sparked optimism about the prospect of AI reducing repetitive tasks and enabling designers to focus on more creative work.
Figma plans to re-enable the Make Design feature only after ensuring it can confidently stand behind its output. Starting Tuesday, the feature will be turned off, and a complete QA pass on the design system will be conducted before it is returned online. Apple has not commented on the situation.
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