Figma temporarily disabled its new AI-powered design tool “Make Design” after it was discovered to be generating designs nearly identical to Apple’s Weather app, raising concerns about the legal and ethical implications of AI reproducing copyrighted material. Figma CEO acknowledged the issue and cited the limitations of the language models used to train the AI. The incident highlights the need for robust testing and safeguards in generative AI tools.
Figma, a leading design platform, has taken the unprecedented step of temporarily disabling its new AI-powered design tool, Make Design, following allegations that it was reproducing designs from Apple’s Weather app. The issue was first brought to light by Andy Allen, founder of NotBoring Software, who discovered that the tool was generating designs remarkably similar to Apple’s Weather app.
Allen, who shared his findings on X (formerly Twitter), found that multiple requests to design a weather app resulted in a program that was almost identical to the built-in iOS weather app. “This is a ‘weather app’ using the new Make Designs feature and the results are basically Apple’s Weather app,” Allen said in a post. “Tried three times, same results.”
Figma’s CEO, Dylan Field, has denied the allegations, stating that the company will temporarily disable the “Make Design” feature to address the issue. The feature, which allows users to enter a plain English description of an app and watch as the user interface is generated, has been a major draw for designers and developers.
The incident highlights the potential pitfalls of AI-powered design tools, which can be trained on existing apps and potentially reproduce their designs. Figma’s decision to temporarily disable the feature is a rare move for a company, but one that demonstrates its commitment to ensuring the integrity of its design platform.
