Figma AI & Your New Design Title

by Jeff Humble

Dear Reader,

Last week, Figma made some big AI announcements that caused quite a controversy.

Welcome to the dystopian world of design called:

Figma's Big Announcement

This year, AI was all over the Config conference with much-needed updates like background removal, AI-generated layer naming, and automated prototyping.

However, the real game-changer was the 'Make Design' feature.

Imagine being able to generate interfaces from text prompts. Sure, a few AI tools like Uizard have already done something similar, but from the demo, it seems like Figma nailed it.

When they announced the feature at Figma Config, quite a few eyebrows were raised, and I heard the chat for the online event got so out of hand that they disabled it.

This feature might be a design job killer.

Figma skills were never going to get you promoted, and now everyone on the team can use Figma to generate mediocre UI.

Who needs a designer if you can generate any design you want? You know that product managers gotta be seeing this feature + your design system = no need for a designer.

What struck me is that these AI-powered starting points will turn all UI designers into "UI editors."

As Figma opens up its user base to the whole product team, what should designers do?

Why Figma quietly turned off the "Make Design" feature

So, all the UI designers realized that their jobs were threatened, and rather than accept it, designers decided to try a little collective action. They boycotted the tool, and Figma removed it!

LOL, you should see your face. No, that's not what happened.

No, it was because Figma didn't want to get sued by Apple.

After the conference, users reported that the Make Design feature was blatantly plagiarizing. Andy Allen, founder of NotBoringSoftware, accused Figma of stealing Apple's weather app design.

Take a look and judge for yourself:

The CEO of Figma responded by saying they would disable the Make Design feature until they could fix it.

What you should do about Figma AI

So what's the big lesson?

The weather app looks the same because Figma has yet to add all your data to its model.

Luckily, it's not too late to opt out.

If you refuse to train Figma's AI model with your data, you might delay the inevitable job loss this feature will create.

Here's what the opt-out option looks like in your admin settings:

I encourage you to consider opting out.

Or embrace your new role as UI Editor/Model Trainer? 🫠

Until next time, UI Editors & Model Trainers! 👀

Jeff Humble ​Designer & Co-Founder ​The Fountain Institute

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P.S. If you want an AI-proof skill for designers, check out my course on UX strategy! I just launched a new self-paced version you can take during the summer.

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(This discount is exclusively for email subscribers and not publicly shared. Learn more about the course here.)