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January 2026 #18318 Page #118
Design Connections
Geordie Secord, Senior Recruiter TheJobLine.com – Canada
AI in Truss Design: Opportunity or Long-Term Risk?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a distant concept—it’s here, and it’s reshaping industries at an unprecedented pace. For component manufacturers, AI promises efficiency, speed, and cost savings. For years now, we’ve been promised that one day we would be able to get truss designs “at the push of a button” and that day is almost here. Imagine truss designs generated in minutes, optimized for material usage, and ready for production. It sounds like a dream, and in many ways, it will be. But as someone who has spent over 35 years in this business, I believe caution is not just advisable—it’s essential.
The Allure of AI AI-driven design tools are advancing rapidly. Within a few years, I expect AI will be capable of producing truss designs with 90% accuracy. That’s impressive. But here’s the question: what about the remaining 10%? In our industry, a 10% error rate isn’t just a rounding issue—it can mean structural failures, costly rebuilds, and liability nightmares. If those errors slip through unchecked, the financial and reputational damage could far outweigh the savings AI brings. I was once told that working in component design was like taking a never-ending math test where any score less than perfect was considered a failure. Of course, mistakes are going to happen, but whereas 90% on a math test in high school would generally be cause for celebration, 90% accuracy as a component designer means you are likely to have a short career. That reality underscores why human oversight remains critical— even as AI becomes more capable.
The Talent Pipeline Problem Here’s the bigger concern: if AI replaces junior designers today, who will become the senior designers tomorrow? Traditionally, junior designers learn the craft through hands-on experience, gradually developing the judgment and intuition that no algorithm can replicate. It has been proposed that the easiest path to AI integration might include using senior, experienced designers to review work created by AI. But, if we eliminate that entry-level training ground, we risk creating a future where there are no seasoned professionals to review AI-generated work. Ten or twenty years from now, who will catch the mistakes AI inevitably makes? This isn’t just a theoretical problem—it’s a structural one. Our industry thrives on expertise built over decades. If we disrupt that pipeline, we may find ourselves overly dependent on technology that, while powerful, is not infallible. Continued next page
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