Figma’s AI-powered app generator returns after being pulled for copying Apple apps

Figma announced Make Designs in June as a way for designers to employ generative AI to support get started designing apps, but early users quickly showed off how they could create a mockup of a weather app that looked remarkably similar to Apple’s iPhone weather app. Although Figma insisted that the feature wasn’t trained on customer data — in fact, Figma said it didn’t train off-the-shelf generative AI models — the company removed the feature to give it more testing.

Now he’s coming back, called “First Draft” and like Figma’s other AI features, it’s currently in restricted beta.

As part of the relaunch, Figma is also adding modern features to First Draft:

We’re also introducing a few key updates, like letting you choose from four libraries based on your needs—whether it’s a wireframing library that helps you sketch less opinionated, lo-fi primitives, or higher-fidelity libraries that give you more visual expressions or patterns to explore. This offers a looser, more exploratory counterpoint to the usability of our Visual search featurewhich allows you to search Figma files by tooltip or image to find existing files or components.

Image: Figma

In a blog post dedicated to the relaunch, the company also explained how First Draft works:

First Draft doesn’t train on customer content. It uses off-the-shelf AI models (like OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Amazon Titan) with three key elements: model, context, and prompt. Context includes proprietary mobile and desktop design systems with numerous components and assembly examples. Users enter their design goals as prompts. The AI ​​then selects, arranges, and adjusts the design system components based on these inputs, creating a starting point for designs.

Figma says it has relaunched the feature after “extensive analysis, iteration, and testing.”

Other Figma AI features include the ability to automatically generate text for designs.