Commercial and Industrial Designers

AI tools are starting to help commercial and industrial designers with routine parts of their work. For example, generative design software can quickly create many draft sketches or design ideas based on simple text or parameters ^[1]. Research finds that AI can handle repetitive steps (like copying or refining shapes) so that human designers can “focus on activities that require intensive creativity” instead ^[2].

In practice, this means a computer might lay out initial drawings, suggest cost-saving adjustments, or run quick simulations while a designer guides the concept. These tools can make work faster and show more possibilities early on ^{[1] [2]}. Even so, core creative choices – like deciding how a product feels or meets a customer’s wish – still need people.

Today, AI augments designers by giving them new ideas or finishing dull tasks, but it does not fully replace the human touch and complex judgment involved in design.

Whether companies rush to use these tools depends on many factors. Big design software firms are adding AI features, and studies show potential gains (for instance, McKinsey estimates AI could greatly speed up product design) ^[1]. If an AI tool saves time or money, a studio might adopt it quickly.

However, designers must learn to use the new tools and trust their results. Product design involves tricky trade-offs (safety, cost, appearance and other real-world factors) ^[3], so humans usually stay in charge of final decisions. Some creatives worry about AI: a photographer told The Guardian that cheap AI-generated art was “devastating,” underscoring concerns about losing work to machines ^[4].

Others see AI as a helper – using it to draft basic work faster and then applying their own expertise to polish it ^[4]. In the end, most experts expect AI to be a tool rather than a replacement. Young designers who learn to work with AI can use it to handle routine tasks and explore more ideas, freeing them to focus on the imaginative, human-side skills that machines can’t copy ^{[2] [4]}.