AI Design Tool Axes Feature that Cloned Apple’s Weather App

Image: Apple

Figma, a collaborative design platform where people can create, share, and test designs for websites, apps, and other digital products, has disabled its recently launched AI app design tool after it was found to be copying Apple Weather — reports 404 Media.

The tool, dubbed Make Design, harnesses the power of generative AI and large language models to create full-fledged apps from user prompts. Figma unveiled Make Design at its annual Config conference last week.

However, as discovered by Not Boring Software CEO and cofounder Andy Allen, who tried using Make Design, asking the tool to design a “weather app” repeatedly resulted in what looked eerily similar to Apple’s stock weather app. Allen shared his findings in a series of tweets.

Figma AI looks rather heavily trained on existing apps.

This is a "weather app" using the new Make Designs feature and the results are basically Apple's Weather app (left). Tried three times, same results. https://t.co/Ij20OpPCer pic.twitter.com/psFTV6daVD

— Andy Allen (@asallen) July 1, 2024

“Within hours of seeing this tweet, we identified the issue, which was related to the underlying design systems that were created. Ultimately it is my fault for not insisting on a better QA process for this work and pushing our team hard to hit a deadline for Config,” Figma CEO Dylan Field said in a tweet of his own.

“I have asked our team to temporarily disable the Make Design feature until we are confident we can stand behind its output. The feature will be disabled when our US based team wakes up in a few hours, and we will re-enable it when we have completed a full QA pass on the underlying design system.”

Both Field and Figma CTO Kris Rasmussen assured the public that none of Figma’s generative AI features are trained on its users’ work. According to Rasmussen, Make Design copying Apple Weather is a “function of the third party models we are using vs. the design systems we commissioned to be used by the models and we will address as needed.”

Field added that Make Design “uses off-the-shelf LLMs, combined with design systems we commissioned to be used by these models. The problem with this approach—which I outlined in my keynote last week—is that variability is too low.”

Figma sources third-party AI models from multiple vendors, including OpenAI, Amazon Titan, and Jasper. Make Design so clearly copying Apple Weather implies that the iOS app is somewhere in the training data for the AI models that underpin the feature, and Make Design is simply relying too heavily on it.

Apple is no stranger to copycat apps, but it looks like humans won’t be the only ones creating them anymore. It’s a good thing Figma promptly took Make Design down, though, since close resemblance to existing apps could have landed users in significant legal trouble.