AI Resilience Report forSet and Exhibit Designers

Right now, AI is mostly being used to assist set and exhibit designers rather than replace them. According to a recent industry survey reported by trade publication Exhibit City News, 59 percent of respondents say they currently use AI during the exhibit-design process, while 41 percent do not, and over half of respondents cited heightened creativity and improved ideation as the top advantages, followed by increased efficiency and shortened project timelines. Designers are mainly using generative tools to generate initial concepts, layouts, and visualizations faster, allowing them to explore more design options in less time, and to automate repetitive technical checks.

In theatrical and film design, AI image tools like Midjourney are popping up in mood boards and previs work, and academic researchers note that AI is being explored for both immersive museum exhibition design ^[1] and hybrid theater performance experiments ^[2]. However, as one industry leader quoted by Exhibit City News put it, "AI is not a replacement for creativity. It's a new creative instrument" — the human still drives the vision.

Adoption is moving quickly on the idea-generation side but more slowly for full design work, and a few real-world forces explain why. Financially, the pressure is real: a tech policy analysis warns that when a sector is flush with aggregate capital but plagued by rising production costs, the pressure to replace the most expensive variable, typically labor, becomes irresistible. At the same time, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment of set and exhibit designers to grow only 2 percent from 2024 to 2034 ^[3], slower than average — meaning competition is tight even before AI factors in.

But there are big brakes on adoption too. Exhibit City News notes that AI-generated concepts can create unrealistic expectations and produce ideas that are not feasible, leading to confusion or frustration — they often ignore budgets, rigging, freight, and union rules. Legal worry is rising as well: designers fear their old portfolios are being scraped to train models, and just 11 percent always disclose AI usage to clients, while 34 percent do so only if asked.

Unions are pushing back too — the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025 ^[4] highlights creativity and originality as among the fastest-growing human skills employers want through 2030. The encouraging takeaway: AI cannot yet understand context, emotion, or the lived experience of a show floor — it doesn't feel the energy of a crowd. The skills that make a great designer — empathy, storytelling, problem-solving in physical space, and collaboration with directors, performers, and curators — are exactly the ones AI struggles with most.

If you're drawn to this career, learning AI tools as a partner (for fast concepting and visualization) while doubling down on your craft, dramaturgy, and hands-on building skills is the strongest path forward.