Figma, the renowned collaborative design platform, has announced its venture into the world of artificial intelligence. At the recent annual conference in San Francisco on June 26, 2024, Figma introduced Figma AI, a suite of AI-powered tools aimed at enhancing user efficiency and creativity.
The exciting features of Figma AI include automatic layer renaming, design generation from text prompts, AI-enhanced asset search, background removal, language translation, and an AI prototype maker. These advanced tools promise to streamline workflows and boost creative output for users. However, the company’s decision to utilize customer content to train its AI models has sparked discussions among users.
In an official statement sent to users via email, Figma expressed the need to train models that understand design concepts, patterns, and Figma’s internal formats and structure through user-generated content. By utilizing a wide range of user-generated data, such as text, images, comments, annotations, layer names, and usage data, Figma aims to develop AI models that are tailor-made for Figma-specific concepts and tools, ultimately providing users with more personalized AI-driven assistance.
While Figma has reassured users about data privacy and security measures, such as data encryption, strict access controls, and de-identification of usage data to protect privacy, concerns have been raised regarding the use of creative work for AI training. Users will have the option to opt out of content training, with default settings varying based on the Figma plan.
As AI technology continues to evolve in the design software industry, Figma’s approach reflects a broader trend of companies integrating machine learning to enhance products. Users will need to consider the trade-offs of sharing their content for AI training, weighing the benefits of improved AI features against data privacy concerns. With the opt-out feature for content training set to take effect on August 15, 2024, Figma users face important decisions regarding the use of their creative work for machine learning purposes.
