It was Karl Gehlen's first design for the company, and although it was not produced in quantity, it provided the foundation for the later, highly successful bombers culminating in the G.III.

The Friedrichshafen G.I first flew in 1915 and was originally conceived as a battle-plane but the design emphasis was shifted to the bomber role when the battle-plane concept proved unworkable.

The biplane wings were braced by three pairs of interplane struts on each side of the fuselage while the tail unit was a box-shaped biplane unit with two rudders mounted between the tips of the horizontal stabilizers.

Each nacelle housed a six-cylinder 110 kW (150 hp) Benz Bz.III engine in a pusher configuration.

K = Kampfflugzeug (battleplane), renamed as G-class, L = bomber midway between K/G and R-classes