Figma

By Bonnie Eslinger ( November 21, 2025, 10:37 PM EST) -- User interface design software company Figma, which celebrated its stock market debut this year, on Friday was slapped with a proposed class action in California federal court, claiming the company steals customers' intellectual property to train its artificial intelligence tools. . . .

Figma Inc. trained its generative artificial intelligence models on proprietary data that its millions of users uploaded to the platform, an intellectual property lawsuit filed Friday says.

Design software company Figma was hit with a proposed class action in California federal court on Friday for allegedly misusing its customers’ designs to train artificial intelligence models. The lawsuit said the company used its customers’ data and intellectual property without permission to train its generative AI tools, which according to the complaint led to San Francisco-based Figma’s “sky-high valuation” in a $1.2 billion initial public offering earlier this year. Figma extends gains after blockbuster NYSE trading debut Figma extends gains after blockbuster NYSE trading debut The San Francisco, California-based company's shares closed at $115.5 on Thursday, compared with its IPO price of $33 Figma extends gains after blockbuster NYSE trading debut storyline 1 “We do not use any customer data to train our models without explicit authorization to do so,” a Figma spokesperson said in a statement. “Even with that authorization, we take additional steps to de-identify that data and protect our customers’ privacy, and ensure that our training is focused on general patterns – not on customers’ unique content, concepts and ideas.” “This case underscores a simple and important principle: consumers and businesses have a right to ensure that their most sensitive and proprietary data and unique creative works are not being used to secretly train AI models,” plaintiffs’ attorney Carter Greenbaum of Greenbaum Olbrantz said in a statement. The lawsuit is one of a slew of cases brought against tech companies over their use of content without permission to train generative AI systems. Most of those lawsuits focus on copyright infringement claims, unlike the Figma lawsuit, which alleges the company stole customer trade secrets and illegally accessed their data. Founded in 2012, Figma provides cloud-based collaborative design tools, with a roster of marquee clients including Alphabet, Microsoft and Netflix. Figma has also partnered with OpenAI to integrate its app into ChatGPT. Firms like Figma are racing to integrate generative AI tools that automate tasks like image creation, layout suggestion and code generation. According to the lawsuit, Figma automatically opted users into allowing the company to use their data to train its AI software without informing them or receiving permission. AI can’t live off free art forever storyline 1 Figma sheds $11 billion in market value days after blockbuster IPO Figma sheds $11 billion in market value days after blockbuster IPO Figma's market value closed at $59.5 billion on Friday after its shares rose 5.6% to $122 Figma sheds $11 billion in market value days after blockbuster IPO storyline 1 “For years Figma promised its customers that Figma would not use their data for its own purposes, including to train its AI models,” the lawsuit said. The lawsuit said the value of Figma users’ intellectual property is “reasonably measured in the tens or hundreds of billions of dollars.” The plaintiffs requested an unspecified amount of monetary damages and a court order permanently blocking Figma from using AI models that violate its customers’ rights.

The lawsuit said, opens new tab the company used its customers' data and intellectual property without permission to train its generative AI tools, which according to the complaint led to San Francisco-based Figma's "sky-high valuation" in a $1.2 billion initial public offering earlier this year.

“We do not use any customer data to train our models without explicit authorization to do so,” a Figma spokesperson said in a statement [File] | Photo Credit: REUTERS

User interface design software company Figma, which celebrated its stock market debut this year, on Friday was slapped with a proposed class action in California federal court, claiming the company steals customers' intellectual property to train its artificial intelligence tools.

This Figma People Privacy Notice (“HR Privacy Notice”) applies to Personal Information of Personnel that Figma collects and processes in the course of our Human Resources operations, from submission of an application, throughout the course of your employment, and following employment (collectively, the “Human Resources Operations”).

The San Francisco-based company said Friday it will pay Charm Industrial $250,000 to store 400 tons of carbon by 2025, part of the company’s plan to become carbon neutral by 2040. The carbon stored will counter emissions Figma’s activities put into the atmosphere, according to Praveer Melwani, Figma’s head of business operations and finance.