Figma’s AI repetition of Apple models due to a shortage of screening

Andy Allen’s attempts to use Figma’s Make Design to create a weather application resulted in an exact copy of Apple’s version.
Figma’s Make Designs feature, which was a failure, created designs based off existing apps including some from Apple. Figma claims that it is because new elements were not tested enough before the launch. Figma, a maker of design tools, pulled its AI-based UI design app “Make Design” in early July. The tool was shown to be able copy existing apps. One example was Apple’s Weather App. A blog post on the company’s website explains the features that were built into the Make Designs feature and what went wrong. Figma’s VP of Design Noah Levin explained in his post that Make Designs relies upon three elements: Models (off-the-shelf models), Context (a context), and a prompt. The model element includes multiple off-the shelf models, such as OpenAI GPT-4o or Amazon Titan. These models can be used without additional training or any other changes. “Two extensive design systems” were created for desktop and mobile apps to guide the models. The design systems included hundreds of components, as well as examples of how they could be assembled. Models were also given the user’s prompt and the metadata from the design system. Models examine the examples and select a subset. They then create the arranged designs based on the prompt. Making a mess It was more about time management and attention to detail than the models that led to the failure of this feature. During development, the design system was “carefully reviewed,” however not everything received the same treatment. In the week before Config, Figma’s event at the beginning of June, new components and examples screens were added to data sets. Figma admits that they were elements “that simply we didn’t vet thoroughly enough.” Some of the elements looked similar to real-world applications and would be used for specific prompts. Andy Allen, a Config speaker, pointed out that a prompt in a weather application looked “very similar” with Apple’s app. The team working on Make Design halted development to investigate this discovery. The team removed the assets and disabled the feature until a better QA process was implemented. Figma’s AI potential hasn’t been affected by the unanticipated copying. It admits, however, that “there is still a lot of learning to be done” in the development of Make Designs. Levin writes that, in the future, it is hoped that connecting Make Designs with your company’s design system will allow you to spend less time searching, assembling and configuring parts and more time solving issues. Levin says that AI can be “a starting point” for designers to “craft meaningful experiences from a first draft.” Figma’s work shows that AI-based software can produce impressive works and shorten development times for apps or designs. However, it also comes with a warning. It’s possible that these same tools could be “inspired” by popular designs or simply copy them if they are not properly supervised.