CAD REPORT
FEATURE
Saving Users from Uncertainty Autodesk adds AI to its list of ‘must-have technologies’ at annual user conference. BY RALPH GRABOWSKI
These words, spoken optimistically last November from the big stage in Las Vegas, came just as dozens of lawsuits challenged the firms that develop LLM-based generative AI, alleging they were feeding on copyrighted material, without prior consent or compensation, to power their large-language models. In the few months since AU 2023, we’ve seen modern AI software, most notably Google’s Gemini, generate images of historical figures – including popes, Vikings and German WWII soldiers, “in a variety of ethnicities and genders,” according to The Guardian. Similarly, Fortune Magazine reported that Microsoft’s Copilot chatbot has been giving users “bizarre and disturbing answers.” In addition, multiple outlets reported that several AI systems struggled to provide accurate information on voting-related questions.
Most recently, the company has touted Autodesk AI, an artificial intelligence platform that intersects with Autodesk’s online design software, as the latest “must-have” solution. 10 DESIGN ENGINEERING March/April 2024
Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost presenting the keynote address at Autodesk University 2023.
Never mind. Autodesk plans to make its AI help designers become more agile and more creative, by analyzing data, gaining insights from it and automating non-creative tasks. “There is no AI without actionable data,” explained Raji Arasu, Autodesk’s chief technology officer. That data Autodesk AI needs to feed on is your intellectual property, 40 petabytes of which you’ve uploaded to Autodesk’s cloud. The legal ramifications have yet to be fully worked out, notes AEC Magazine editor Martyn Day, but you will be nudged to share. “We have to get people comfortable with how much of your data you want to share with the greater good, versus what you want to keep for your own proprietary abilities,” Day quoted Anagnost as saying during an AU press conference.
Aiming For Electric Cars
For the keynote example, executives went to car manufacturing, which is odd, given that Autodesk has little presence in that field, other than in automotive styling. Nevertheless, electric vehicle DESIGN-ENGINEERING.com
All image courtesy of Autodesk
For the past few years, the theme of Autodesk University (AU) has focused on how the future is uncertain, but Autodesk will save you from that uncertainty – if you allow it to. “Though the uncertainty we are facing is increasing, so is the technology available to us... Ignore this disruption and you risk getting left behind,” warned Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost during his keynote address at AU 2023. The year before, during AU 2022, Autodesk wanted manufacturers to replace their existing systems with a new all-encompassing cloud service. The year before, manufacturers were instructed that digital collaboration was now a necessity. Before that, it was the need for the death of the local computer file. As I look around today, the file remains strong, drafting has been digitally transforming since the 1980s, and cloud services have been assisting users since the 2010s. Most recently, the company has touted Autodesk AI, an artificial intelligence platform that intersects with Autodesk’s online design software, as the latest “must-have” solution. Quoting a study Autodesk commissioned in 2022, 78% of customers polled are more worried now than at the height of Covid-19, Anagnost said. For Autodesk, AI is the cure for that anxiety. “We’ve gone from talking about the promise of AI, to seeing it make real progress,” he said.