How AI Is Changing How We Build Things

SURE, COMPUTER ALGORITHMS ARE TAKING over tech and science and medicine … but the creatives are still safe, right? A new program from software developer Autodesk called Dreamcatcher (rendering above) can use A.I. techniques to assist human designers as they go about their creative tasks. Already in use by companies including Airbus, Under Armour, and Stanley Black & Decker, the software is an example of the burgeoning field of generative design. The software then produces hundreds or even thousands of options. As the human designer winnows the choices, the software susses out preferences and helps iterate even better options.