Will AI replace CAD developers?
Greetings, travelers!
This week, I was invited to contribute in a contribution-created article in Linkedin, that uses an AI model to analyze and synthesise the contributions into a single article, highlighting the main topics into sections, with the bias of the feedback from the users about each author's contribution. I continue to be skeptical about the value of AI-generated articles, but I found really interesting this approach of generating the text through explicit input from professionals of the area, aswell as feedback from the community.
The article is about what CAD developers can do to not get behind through these AI advancements, and underlyingly questioning if these models may someday replace the professionals.
As a CAD Developer with a background in Mathematics and Digital Fabrication, I agree with a lot of the other contributions I've read: the most important thing is to continue to learn, studying by yourself and with others, to understand how these new technologies will improve and change our workflows and capabilities. One area I'm really excited to see further development is Parametric Modeling, that has already shown some incredible applications through software like Rhinocero's Grasshopper and Blender Nodes. As I've read more than once about other professions, I don't think CAD professionals will be substituted by AI; but developers who cannot use AI tools to assist them will definetely be substituted by the ones who can.
This was my short take on the topic, and I would be really happy to hear your opinion about my thoughts, and invite you to also contribute to the discussion, answering in the comments:
"How do you think AI tools will affect your workflow and how you and others in your profession can adapt to it?"
"Here is the image I created for you. It symbolizes how AI models assist in predictive modeling and CAD software. It's an abstract representation that blends technology with human creativity, showing the synergy between AI capabilities and human ingenuity in the field of design and engineering. I hope it resonates with your thoughts and finds a fitting place in your post. Feel free to reflect on it whenever you're ready." I believe that it is fundamental that we discuss and reflect not only on the capabilities, but also on the real social impacts that these AI tools will have in our society. And the only way to truly achieve this, is through scientific knowledge sharing on the subject, and a lot of patience and respect with each other. Here's to trying to be optimistic about it :)
Cover created om Canva, using a DALLE-3 created image and a photo of my own work using CAD software and CNC Laser technology. The image was prompted through a voice chat with GPT4, and the following text is its generated output alongside the image:
Reminds me of an article I read this morning, New AI assistant threatens software engineering jobs.
The history of the last couple centuries is clear. Every major technology has destroyed some jobs, changed the nature of some jobs, and created still others. I expect it to be the same with AI. As your commentary and the AI commentary above both suggest, I think that the future of work is fundamentally about the blending of human and machine intelligence.
As to the exact nature of jobs to be destroyed, changed, or created... I don't think that workers of the late 19th century/early 20th century could have predicted the labor markets of today, and I'm skeptical about our ability to anticipate the jobs of the future with a whole lot of accuracy.
It's also important to talk about time frames. On a long enough time frame, I do think that both CAD developers and software engineers will be obsoleted by AI and/or other advances, but I think that time is still multiple decades away. When I entered the job market in the 1980s, people were already predicting the death of the mainframe computer, but here we are in the 2020s, and I still see job ads for people with mainframe expertise. When I stop seeing those postings, maybe I'll start to worry about AI taking our jobs on a faster time frame. 😉
I've been seeing a lot of repercussion around Devin recently, and the article you shared definitely helped me to formulate a better opinion about it.
I agree with you, both on the "blending" (I really liked the use of this term in this context) of human and artificial intelligence to improve our creations, aswell as on the fact that we probably don't have the ability to predict the jobs of the future. About your last paragraph, I dare to go even further: if these professionals do become substitutable, we will probably have arrived at a point as a society where value generating and working are a concept so different from what we have nowadays, that we truly cannot even begin to comprehend what it shall be. I also believe that professionals with expertise in specific topics may be substituted by AI models in the objective practical side of things, they will remain relevant in using these models and reviewing their work, even if indirectly. An aspect of this was mentioned in the article, about how prompting may become more and more important as a skill as time passes. It is subtle, but this is a point that really makes me more optimistic about Humanity. Prompt engineering is nothing more than learning and practicing how to communicate more effectively and objectively, in a clear and a lot of the times polite manner. I like to believe that it may be the starting point for humans to go back to investing properly into verbalizing and communicating with each other in a decent and fair way; and maybe that will be part of our salvation as a society.
Thanks one more time for your insights and time, Steve! Not to mention your concrete support on this platform, not only through upvoting, but specially by really reading and interacting with my contributions.
This is really a good point that I hadn't considered. Ad hominem arguments don't work against an AI. I hope you're right about what this implies. It would be nice if AIs could teach us something about how to communicate with each other.
Of course they will affect the field of work in any area, that is like programming in its beginnings, the more advances there are in AI in a specific area, the more it will affect the people who work in that area.
And everything will depend on the interests of the corporations that develop it.
Good evening, and thanks for all the support from the members of the community!
I unfortunately forgot to set the rewards to @null when I created the post, probably because it was my first time posting using SteemPro Mobile, but cheers to @faisalamin and the team for the great app! I have now removed the tag from the post (hence the edited tag) since I don't think it is possible to change the rewards settings after having posted it. I thought I could send a fourth of my rewards in SBD to @null anyway, but I don't feel confortable using the tag without the rewards being set correctly.
I will also use the opportunity through this comment to link the article I mentioned on LinkedIn, I do think it has valuable knowledge to anyone interested in the topics discussed in this post! Cheers