Figma releases FigJam, an artificial intelligence for collaborative project planning

FigJam AI is in open beta testing and is "currently free" for all levels of customers.

Figma, a company known for its product design applications, has announced FigJam AI, a new set of generative artificial intelligence tools for its FigJam collaborative whiteboard service that allows you to create ready-made templates for common design and planning projects. The idea is that FigJam AI reduces the preparation time required to manually create such projects on an interactive whiteboard from scratch, leaving designers time to focus on more important tasks.

FigJam AI has been available in open beta since November 7 and is "currently free" for all customer levels. We have reached out to Figma to clarify whether FigJam AI will remain free once it is released to general availability, and will update this article if we receive a response.

The new Generate feature provides a selection of suggested prompts for creating templates such as flowcharts, icebreakers, brainstorming sessions and 1:1 meeting planners, as well as a text box where you can describe in your own words what you want to create. The AI will also suggest default descriptions to include in the content - for example, when creating a Gantt chart, it will suggest adding a timeline, number of projects, and project milestones. Users can delete or otherwise adjust sections of generated projects just as they would when creating projects manually.

FigJam AI also includes Sort, which automatically organizes stickies - the virtual equivalent of real sticky notes for recording ideas - into different groups based on key topics, and Summerize, which lets you create a one-click summary taken from groups of stickies. These new features can be used alongside Jambot, the ChatGPT-based FigJam widget that the company released in beta in August.

In an interview with The Verge, Figma co-founder and CEO Dylan Field said that the company is looking at other AI-related developments, and that these initial features for FigJam AI are "an obvious place to start." The current beta version of FigJam AI uses basic OpenAI models, which Field said could easily be replaced with other basic AI models. We asked Figma to clarify exactly which OpenAI base models are being used and whether switching to a different AI model will be offered in a future update.

"In terms of FigJam, I think we really took a strategic approach," says Field. "Across the Figma platform, we've thought about all the possible uses of artificial intelligence and boiled it down to a few use cases where we can leverage it in a product that will really help. It's really important that you don't do everything you can think of, but only the things that add the most value."