1. SOLIDWORKS
  2. How AI Is Augmenting CAD Tools for Better Product Design

What Is AI Product Design?

AI, or artificial intelligence, is an umbrella term for strategies and techniques, such as rules-based algorithms, that allow machines to mimic human behavior and intelligence. AI covers awide range of computer operations. You use AI applications every day. For example, autocorrect while texting, map navigation to suggest routes, or the Selection Manager in SOLIDWORKS® Design.

Under the AI umbrella is Machine Learning, which uses algorithms and statistical methods to allow machines to “learn” from data and improve their performance without explicit programming. Applications of machine learning include product recommendations on retail websites, automatic email sorting and spam filtering, and Smart Mates in xDesign by SOLIDWORKS.

Under the machine learning umbrella is Deep Learning. Deep learning is a subset of machine learning that uses large, deep, and complex multilayered neural networks to automatically discover and learn patterns from vast amounts of data and potentially create new outcomes a human may not have considered. Deep learning powers the most talked-about AI tools and is used in revolutionary technologies like ChatGPT, virtual assistants like Apple’s Siri® or Amazon’s Alexa®, and advanced graphics technologies like the Denoiser in SOLIDWORKS Visualize.

How are AI CAD Tools Changing Product Design?

Let’s begin with your day-to-day reality: repetitive documentation tasks, time lost searching for essential data, and pressure to deliver more, faster, without compromising quality. The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence in CAD design is transforming the product design industry. By automating manual steps and locating critical information in moments, AI CAD tools remove friction and bring focus back to what matters — designing innovative products. These advancements in AI product design don’t just streamline workflows; they establish a foundation of trust and reliability, allowing you to move forward with confidence.

What Security Features Ensure Data Protection in AI CAD Tools?

With the rise of AI-powered product design tools, concerns about data security, IP protection, and design safety are more relevant than ever. A trusted software partner should offer robust security measures, including secure cloud storage, encryption, access controls, and threat detection systems. Additionally, they should ensure that proprietary data is not utilized for training AI models without the explicit consent of the client. Another common concern is what does using AI mean for CAD data? AI systems are fueled by vast amounts of data. Building AI systems means training the AI model to learn from existing information. This learning requirement raises red flags for some who fear AI training will include proprietary or copyrighted content, such as code, music, or art.

How Does SOLIDWORKS Train AI?

SOLIDWORKS Design is training AI models with nonproprietary internal data generated by SOLIDWORKS R&D. Our ultimate goal is to provide you with baseline design concepts that can then be exclusively and securely adjusted for your particular use cases inside your business.

SOLIDWORKS does not use proprietary data to train AI models without explicit permission from clients. In the future, SOLIDWORKS will introduce AI-powered CAD capabilities tailored specifically to support your projects. You’ll have the ability to specify data sources for training your AI models, ensuring the system is optimized for your unique needs. SOLIDWORKS Design’s AI CAD will then analyze this data to provide personalized suggestions exclusively for your organization. Rest assured, your intellectual property will remain secure and will never be used to benefit other businesses.

What Does AI CAD Mean for Designers and Engineers?

Person working on laptop in office

The advent of large language models has thrust AI and machine learning into the mainstream news cycle. AI buzz has rightfully raised many questions regarding intellectual property and job security. But how will AI CAD software affect engineering and product design?

SOLIDWORKS believes AI CAD design will make better designers and engineers. AI in CAD is not and will never be a substitute for a seasoned expert, nor can it replace human insight. However, the design process is complex and full of repetitive and tedious tasks. SOLIDWORKS has taken a multifaceted approach to address this complexity. SOLIDWORKS Design offers AI-powered tools with assistive AI, predictive AI, generative AI, and our proprietary AI assistant, AURA. The end goal for AI-driven tools, through any of these approaches, is to foster creativity while helping you create your final product faster, improving your user experience, and maintaining the integrity of your IP.

What Is AI CAD?

AI in CAD is an approach to integrating artificial intelligence features into the CAD design process. AI CAD features tools for design assistance and generative design. Both AI tools for product design, Design Assistance and AI CAD for Generative Design, aim to reduce complexity in the design process, provide advice and design alternatives to improve user experience, and free up time to make you a faster, more efficient designer or engineer.

Automate with AI

Smart AI automation helps users work faster and is built upon in-session intelligence. These smart AI tools focus on reducing clicks and frustration by automating repetitive, time-consuming tasks. For instance, features like Selection Accelerators or Sketch Relations Repair tool save clicks by automating mundane tasks with AI and deliver instant value. By managing these routine operations, automated AI CAD design enhances the overall product creation experience, allowing professionals to focus their skills on more critical areas of innovation and problem-solving. This targeted automation saves valuable time and reduces the risk of manual errors.

AI Assist

AI Assist marks a significant advancement in product development, engineered to anticipate your needs intuitively. Powered by transformer-based prediction and informed by anonymized real-world workflow patterns, it acts as a digital co-pilot – proactively suggesting commands, forecasting next steps, and intelligently organizing drawings to streamline your creative process. This form of artificial intelligence in CAD looks ahead, suggesting options for design optimization and identifying potential issues before they can slow down your progress. By learning your unique workflow, these sophisticated AI CAD tools can suggest the most relevant next command or predict actions, such as recognizing fasteners that match bolts, nuts, and washers, saving hours of repetitive work. This capability streamlines complex operations and enhances efficiency within the product design process.

AI Co-create

AI Co-create is built on advanced AI models and represents the fastest-growing area of development in AI for product design. It includes tools that propose, create, and even document solutions collaboratively. This advanced application of AI-powered generative design takes the pain out of creating detailed drawings by automatically generating them in batches, complete with dimensions, tolerances, and callouts. These powerful AI tools for product design can also assemble parts automatically with minimal input from the user, removing significant manual effort from the design and documentation process. By handling these repetitive yet critical tasks, AI Co-create, our generative AI solution liberates engineering teams from tedious tasks in product design and documentation. It can also provide the user with creative multiple variations of existing designs. These are just some of the many capabilities that generative AI provides – it is constantly evolving, adding more every day, and producing new content with purpose and intelligence.

AURA: Your Intelligent Design Assistant

AURA is a proprietary, custom-built AI assistant from Dassault Systèmes, designed specifically as an LLM for engineers and design professionals. Unified into your workflow, AURA delivers instant answers from community forums, technical documentation, and key Dassault Systèmes resources. This intelligent assistant shares best practices, accesses a robust knowledge base, translates content, and summarizes complex content for clarity. It operates entirely within your secure cloud tenant, handling only your approved data to keep everything private and relevant. By automating routine tasks and streamlining access to critical information, AURA empowers professionals to focus on creative and strategic work. Designers benefit from quick and reliable answers to questions, with less time spent searching for data. With AURA handling the background tasks, teams maintain focus on delivering innovation.

Did you know that AURA is one of many tools included with SOLIDWORKS Design? You can activate Cloud Services at no additional charge and take advantage of these tools today.

How SOLIDWORKS Design's AI CAD and Machine Learning Tools Help You

While AI is dominating the tech news cycle, it is not news to SOLIDWORKS. In fact, designers and engineers using SOLIDWORKS Design already utilize many AI CAD-enabled features. The SOLIDWORKS AI CAD vision is to provide tools that act like an expert at your side. This expert works with you to answer questions, make suggestions, and help you avoid mistakes that can slow your design process. This vision is being executed through a two-pronged approach: providing AI tools for design assistance and for generative design.

AI CAD Tools for Design Assistance

Screenshot showing 3D model of part with Command Predictor in action

SOLIDWORKS R&D has incorporated AI-enabled design assistance into 3D CAD solutions since the 2010s. These AI CAD features are known as design assistance tools. Their purpose is to help designers finish projects faster by reducing tedium, improving user experience, boosting efficiency, and increasing design accuracy.

AI CAD Tools for Generative Design

Generative design AI CAD tools aim to bring you close or directly to the final product design. The CAD industry is only just beginning to explore generative design. SOLIDWORKS and Dassault Systèmes R&D are prioritizing their efforts to take generative AI tools to the next level to create more advanced and complex designs, and to simplify design workflows. For example, efforts are underway to advance AI CAD to create a parametric design from an imported body and to develop automated generative engineering drawings directly from the model.

Take the Next Steps With SOLIDWORKS Design's AI CAD

AI and machine learning is not a fad or craze. The news is filled with stories about businesses big and small announcing almost-magical AI capabilities. At SOLIDWORKS, we remain focused and unwavering in our commitment to innovation. We have incorporated a forward-thinking, human-centered AI vision into our design and engineering software, ensuring it evolves to meet the needs of the future.

The new age of AI is daunting and exciting. We are ready to uplift our users with tools that will aid them but never replace them. AI CAD with SOLIDWORKS Design will not steal your career or intellectual property. It will only make you a more effective and efficient designer armed with new capabilities to explore and innovate.

Webinar: SOLIDWORKS and AI CAD

SOLIDWORKS 3D model of parts showing mate references

Watch this presentation from Dr. Shrikant Savant, SOLIDWORKS data analysis and science director, to learn about SOLIDWORKS Design’s AI CAD mission and the development underway to bring the power of AI CAD to every engineer’s screen.

Watch the video

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