Figma recently deactivated the new Make Design feature, which aimed to assist in designing by simply inputting prompts. This decision was made after reports surfaced that when using Make Design to design a weather app, the results closely resembled the Weather app on the iPhone.
Noah Levin, the Vice President of Design at Figma, posted additional insights on the issue, starting with an explanation that the AI model used by Make Design is already prevalent in the market, such as OpenAI’s GPT-4o or Amazon’s Titan, to help with drawing images or writing details.
The problem lies in the design layout system, where Figma utilizes a self-made design system divided into two groups – one for desktop and another for mobile phones, with hundreds of subcomponents added to be called upon by Make Design based on user prompts and arranged in a layout. The AI model is then used to supplement components like text or images.
The issue arose from the use of a referenced design dataset that was not thoroughly vetted due to the impending launch deadline, resulting in designs resembling existing market apps, including the Weather app on the iPhone.
In response to the temporary closure of this feature, Figma has removed all problematic data from the referenced design dataset and will reintroduce the feature after thoroughly reviewing all data.
TLDR: Figma deactivated the Make Design feature due to design similarities to existing apps, will relaunch after data review.
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