Mike Krieger exits Figma board as Anthropic enters web design space with competing tools

Anthropic CPO leaves Figma's board after reports he will offer a competing product | TechCrunch

Mike Krieger, Anthropic's chief product officer, resigned from the board of interface design company Figma on April 14. His departure was disclosed to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission by the publicly traded $10 billion company the same day that the Information reported Anthropic's next model, Opus 4.7, will include design tools that could compete with Figma's primary offering. Figma is the developer of a popular tool for user experience designers who build interfaces for websites and apps. The company has collaborated closely with Anthropic to integrate the frontier lab's AI models into its products as assistants for its users. Krieger, who previously co-founded Instagram and the AI-powered news app Artifact, became the top product executive at Anthropic in 2024, and joined the board of Figma less than a year ago. Krieger's departure and any forthcoming design tools will be another data point for investors who fear the SAASpocalypse -- that the largest AI labs will come to dominate software businesses, a thesis which has rocked public markets at times this year. iShares's primary software ETF, IGV, is down nearly 18% this year. Anthropic, meanwhile, is turning down investors who want to buy into the company at $800 billion -- more than double the valuation from its most recent round at the beginning of the year. But companies like Anthropic and OpenAI still have to prove their ultra-capable models can truly replicate the domain experience and relationships of established software brands. Figma's stock price is up 5% since Krieger's departure was disclosed, though we'll see what happens with the next Opus release.

Anthropic's Mike Krieger steps down from Figma's board - The Economic Times

Anthropic's Chief Product Officer, Mike Krieger, has stepped down from Figma's board. This move coincides with Anthropic's reported entry into web design, potentially competing with Figma's core products. Krieger's departure was confirmed in a filing, stating it was not due to any disagreements with Figma.Anthropic's Mike Krieger, the startup's chief product officer, has stepped down from the board of design software firm Figma. The Dario Amodei-led company is reportedly foraying into the web design space, which could compete with Figma's core products. Krieger's departure was disclosed in a filing submitted by Figma to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on April 14. "Krieger's decision was not due to any disagreement with Figma on any matter related to its operations, policies, or practices. The Board thanks Krieger for his service and contributions to Figma and the Board," the filing mentioned. The development comes just as Anthropic released Opus 4.7 on Thursday, the latest upgrade in its flagship Opus family of large language models (LLMs). The update is expected to introduce design capabilities that could challenge Figma's core offerings. According to The Information, Anthropic's push into the web design space aims to enable users, regardless of technical expertise, to create presentations, websites, landing pages, and other digital products using natural language prompts. Valued at roughly $10 billion, Figma builds widely used tools for designing interfaces for websites and applications. In February, the company also announced a partnership with Anthropic to integrate its Claude AI models into Figma's platform as design assistants. Krieger was previously a cofounder and chief technology officer (CTO) of Instagram between 2010 and 2018, and is also known as the cofounder of the AI news app Artifact. According to his LinkedIn profile, he joined Anthropic as chief product officer in 2024 and transitioned to the startup's newly organised Labs team in January this year. The team is dedicated to incubating products at the frontier of Claude's capabilities. According to TechCrunch, Krieger joined Figma's board less than a year ago.