Figma pulls AI tool after criticism that it ripped off Apple’s design.

Figma has pulled its AI tool, Make Designs, from the market following criticism that it copied Apple’s design too closely. The tool, which uses generative AI to help users create app mock-ups quickly, raised eyebrows when it produced designs reminiscent of Apple’s iOS weather app.

Criticism surfaced when Allen, CEO of Not Boring, highlighted the similarities between Figma’s Make Designs output and Apple’s weather app, cautioning designers to be cautious to avoid potential legal issues. Figma’s CEO, Dylan Field, took responsibility for the situation, attributing it to pressure on the team to meet deadlines and defended the company’s method of developing AI tools.

Figma’s CTO, Kris Rasmussen, clarified that Make Designs was not trained on Apple’s designs, emphasizing that the generative AI features relied on pre-existing models and a custom design system, which might have led to the resemblance. The core AI models behind Make Designs are OpenAI’s GPT-4o and Amazon’s Titan Image Generator G1. Despite Figma’s assertion that they did not train the AI on specific content, concerns arose about the resemblance to Apple’s designs, prompting speculations that the third-party models might have been trained on Apple’s work.

Figma plans to review its design system for more diversity and quality to prevent such issues in the future before reintroducing Make Designs. The company recently introduced AI training policies, allowing users to opt in or out of contributing their content for Figma’s training purposes by August 15th. While Figma refrained from training its AI tools further until transparency with users was established, Rasmussen hinted at potential training of their own models to enhance design workflows, focusing on general design patterns and specific Figma concepts to aid professional designers effectively.

As Figma works on enhancing its processes to detect and address such issues, the company aims to reintroduce Make Designs shortly, with other AI features remaining in beta. Figma’s experience echoes similar challenges faced by other tech companies like Adobe and Meta in navigating AI integration into their platforms, underscoring the complexities and responsibilities associated with AI-driven tools in the creative space.

source: https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/2/24190823/figma-ai-tool-apple-weather-app-copy