Figma AI just copies Apple’s Weather app every time

A developer who asked Figma AI to help him design a weather app says that it just copied Apple’s own Weather app every time …

Figma AI was announced last week, claiming to “empower designers with intelligent tools.”

We’re excited to introduce Figma AI, a collection of features designed to help you work more efficiently and creatively. Whether you’re searching for inspiration, exploring multiple directions, or looking to automate tedious tasks, we’re building Figma AI to unblock you at any stage […]

We often talk about the blank canvas problem, when you’re faced with a new Figma file and don’t know where to start. Make Designs in the Actions panel will generate UI layouts and component options from your text prompts. Just describe what you need, and the feature will provide you with a first draft. By helping you get ideas down quickly, this feature enables you to explore various design directions and arrive at a solution faster.

However, it appears that using it could be extremely legally perilous. FiftyThree developer Andy Allen, creator of the popular Paper sketching app on iPad, asked it to help design a weather app. The results – each time he tried it – were essentially direct copies of Apple’s app.

He notes that using it could be very dangerous,

Just a heads up to any designers using the new Make Designs feature that you may want to thoroughly check existing apps or modify the results heavily so that you don’t unknowingly land yourself in legal trouble.

Apple’s lawyers are not generally noted for their laid-back approach and keen sense of humor.

The training material for Figma AI may have drawn rather too heavily on last year’s inclusion of an official design kit with iOS 17 resources.

In May of this year, Apple expanded its Figma support with new design templates to support features like Sign in with Apple and Tap to Pay.

Images: Andy Allen