Is Figma’s AI the future? Not yet.

We keep hearing it:

AI is coming for your job.

Coders, designers, copywriters—no one’s safe.

And when you see tools like Figma Make, it really does look like software is evolving faster than we are.

Design an app with a single prompt? Drag-and-drop a prototype from your brain to the browser? Game over, right?

But here’s the thing, people are actually using these tools.

And the feedback isn’t “holy sh*t, I’m out of a job.”

It’s:

• “Buggy.”
• “Slow.”
• “Cool demo, but not usable at work.”

Even on Twitter, designers are posting screenshots of Figma Make outputs with the same energy as watching a toddler draw on the walls.

Great effort. Still a mess.

Look—I’ve been designing for over 20 years.

I remember when Figma first launched and wiped out Sketch and InVision by letting teams collaborate in the browser.

It was a game-changer. It worked. It shipped.

So when people ask me if Figma’s new AI tools are the future?

I say maybe… but not yet. Not for real workflows.

In this episode, I’m diving into what Figma’s AI tools actually do, how the tech world keeps confusing “interesting” with “ready,” and why you’re not falling behind if AI hasn’t saved you any time yet.

Let’s get into it.

1. Figma just went public, and everyone lost their minds.

So… Figma just went public.

Stock popped 250% on day one. Wall Street went nuts. LinkedIn turned into a design-themed birthday party. Everyone posted their “Figma changed my life” testimonials like it was a high school reunion.

And look, I bought stock too. Because Figma is the Adobe of this generation. It’s the foundation of how most modern design teams operate. But here’s the twist…

At the same time that everyone’s celebrating the IPO, Figma’s pushing this narrative that they’re reinventing design with AI. And that? That part doesn’t hold up.

2. Figma Make looks like the future, but doesn’t act like it.

On paper, Figma Make sounds incredible.

Describe what you want, and boom, it generates an interactive prototype. It’s like ChatGPT and Webflow had a baby in a browser.

In reality? It’s more like if that baby tried to code drunk.

There are tweets from actual designers who’ve tried using it and ended up just rebuilding everything from scratch.

The comment sections are full of “cool demo, but unusable in real work.”

And they’re not wrong.

3. It’s fun to play with, but not ready for workflows.

I’ve played with it too. And yeah, it’s fun. Like… hobby-project fun.

But it doesn’t replace anything. It doesn’t save you time. It actually costs time.

You end up fixing weird outputs, clicking through endless auto-generated layers, trying to figure out what the AI was smoking when it decided your CTA should be a giant purple pill button floating in space.

So when people say “AI is going to take your job,” I just laugh.

Not because AI won’t matter, but because this isn’t that.

Figma Make is a tech demo with a UI. It’s exciting, but it’s not workflow-ready.

4. AI tools are being hyped way faster than they’re actually helping.

This is a pattern across the whole industry.

AI tools get headlines because they’re flashy. They’re tweetable.

But actual working professionals—designers, devs, marketers—are sitting there going, “Cool… now what?”

“Does this help me meet my deadline?”

So far, not really.

5. Real innovation shipped. This is just marketing (for now).

I’ve been doing this a long time.

I remember when Figma first dropped in 2016 and just wiped Sketch and InVision off the map. That was real innovation.

You could collaborate live. You could prototype in-app. It was a leap forward.

This? This ain’t that.

Figma Make feels more like they needed an AI feature for the investor deck.

6. You’re not behind, AI isn’t ready for you yet.

Here’s the thing no one says out loud:

You’re not behind for not using AI in your daily workflow.

You’re not late. You’re not lazy. You’re just… busy actually doing the work.

Will these tools get better? Absolutely.

Will AI become a bigger part of how we work? No question.

But let’s stop pretending the hype is the reality. Right now, AI design tools are mostly toys.

They’re fun to mess with. They’re great for the demo. But they’re not replacing anyone yet, unless you were already phoning it in.

7. The upside? AI might bring the generalist back.

Here’s the part that is exciting.

As AI improves, it’s not just about replacing junior work. It’s about unlocking your ability to do more kinds of work.

You don’t have to stay boxed into a niche anymore.

You can go from product designer to brand designer to motion graphics creator to art director—all in the same week, because now you’ve got tools that can follow your taste, not define your limits.

We’re heading into a new era of creative generalists.

One-person design teams. Idea-to-execution without the middlemen.

If you’ve been building skills across disciplines for years like I have, this is the moment we’ve been waiting for.

So yes, AI will change the game.

But don’t confuse “beta feature” with “revolution.”