Figma has temporarily disabled its AI-powered design tool “Make Design”. The tool, which utilized OpenAI’s GPT-4o and Amazon’s Titan Image Generator G1, came under scrutiny after producing designs strikingly similar to Apple’s Weather app.

Responding to the allegations, Figma’s CEO, Dylan Field, acknowledged the resemblance and cited a rush to meet deadlines and subpar quality assurance processes as contributing factors. The company has vehemently denied using specific apps or Figma content for AI training, instead blaming the low variability in their AI model’s output.

As a result, Figma has initiated a comprehensive review of its design systems and is enhancing its quality assurance procedures to prevent similar incidents. The broader implications of this incident extend beyond Figma, highlighting the AI industry’s ongoing struggle with copyright and IP.

For me, this is where the copyright and IP argument gets absurd. Generally speaking, there are a few dozen popular app and website designs that you see over and over and over again. They may have different color schemes and varied fonts, but they are all based on the same arrangement of rectangles. You know what they look like; everyone copies Apple, Amazon, TikTok, WhatsApp, Tinder, Spotify… the list is not long.

Why do people copy these popular designs? Because they work. (As you know, in the business world, no one likes to mess with success.) It’s way easier to copy something you know is best practices than to try to invent (or create) the new-new thing.

Since every professional human designer has been asked to knock off an Apple design hundreds of times during their career, why isn’t it okay for Figma to surface an “eerily similar” framework to get them started?

Don’t hate me for stating the obvious, but anyone can buy an “Apple-esque” template from dozens of design marketplaces right now, and there are even more free ones to be had online. To me, this is a distinction without a difference. You cannot reasonably allow one and complain about the other.

More By This Author:

Tech Giants Eye Nuclear Power For AI Data Centers: A Double-Edged Sword
OpenAI Co-Founder Unveils “Safe Superintelligence”
Ford’s Leap Toward a Level 3 AV