Hey AI, Design a Car. Heard at Autodesk University

UPDATES:

11/18/2023: Changed title and subheading

11/17/2023: Added "About BlankAI" section.

In the world of design and engineering software, getting AI into every application is the highest priority. The pressure is palpable at every conference post-COVID, post-ChatGPT. It is a frenzy not seen since the dot com frenzy. But what is a design and engineering software CEO to do when Microsoft invests $10 billion in OpenAI (creators of ChatGPT), immediately causing Alphabet (Google’s parent company) to issue a Code Red and igniting a blaze that swept across all software vendors.

I’m at Autodesk University 2023 in Las Vegas. The whole city may be dreading the upcoming Formula One race on Saturday, but Autodesk, on stage at the Venetian Convention Center, is focused on one thing: AI—as was the Trimble conference held at the same venue just 1 week earlier. The same was true for the Bentley Systems conference held last month in Singapore. AI is on everyone’s lips and every conference has had AI on the agenda and every CEO has had to answer questions about how they are implementing AI.

Not to be outdone was Andrew Anagnost, CEO of Autodesk. He came out swinging the AI bat. Autodesk had not only acquired elements of something called BlankAI. But repeatedly emphasised it had been using AI all along—we hadn’t been paying attention. Hadn’t Autodesk provided us with generative design and topology optimization, Forma, and other examples of pre-ChatGPT AI? Come on, people!

On the first day of Autodesk University, Autodesk announced the acquisition of BlankAI. Here was the company’s rocket launch to AI like Microsoft did with ChatGPT. Here was the ability to design the shape of a car given a few parameters. The result was not unimpressive.

I totally get it. I drew cars and airplanes as a kid. If I’d become an industrial designer, making bodies in white or clay models, BlankAI would have been a godsend.

But as an engineer, I realize there’s quite a bit more to a car than its sexy shape. A car is complicated. There’s the vehicle dynamics, the suspension, the electronics, onboard computers, the semi-monocoque construction, the drive train….

I have no faith in AI, that it will “design me a car,” any more than a builder would have in AI to “finish this building.”

But what do engineers and architects really say? Some examples:

• Get all the screws to hold down this bracket—and put the right size holes in the bracket.
• What kind of battery is available for this design?
• Help me frame this building. I’m done with the interior and exterior design—AI, do the rest.

In other words, engineers don’t want fully autonomous driving. We don’t trust it. There’s no way AI can design a whole building, a bridge, a vehicle or an aircraft that we would want to live in, drive across or fly in. What we want is something more like driver assistance—something that brakes for us, or keeps us centered in our lane, sees in our blind spots, does the routine and boring job of keeping to the speed limit, and lets us enjoy the ride and get safely to our destination.

“To address this challenge, the BlankAI generative AI algorithm is trained on historical 3D designs and their associated metadata to align the system with the context of the users’ targeted design space,” says Thomas Heermann, VP of Autodesk's Automotive and Conceptual Design products. "The algorithm works by encoding 3D designs and metadata into a custom generative adversarial network (GAN) architecture, which we call XDGAN. BlankAI’s generative algorithm learns features in the training data that are used as semantic parametric controls for manipulating designs. This enables any user to quickly generate, edit and explore potential 3D design concepts in real time, without having to edit complex 3D models."

The sexy, glossy images of sleek vehicle exteriors tie into the AI-accelerated rendering of Autodesk’s VRED, the result being beautiful 2D images of concept cars.

Autodesk offers the following AI implementations for AEC:

• Autodesk Forma provides wind, noise and operational energy
• InfoDrainage has the Machine Learning Deluge Tool that suggests the best placement for retention ponds and swales.
• The venerable AutoCAD is using AI to read handwritten markups.
• Construction IQ is using AI to predict, prevent and manage construction risks that might impact quality, safety, cost or schedule.

For product design and manufacturing:

• In addition to the BlankAI technology, Autodesk Fusion users can do generative designs.
• Fusion workflows are being developed to enable automated creation of templatized CAM toolpaths that can be adjusted by the user as needed.

Little is known about the origins of BlankAI. We heard there was a project called Blank.AI. But that website could not be raised. It was not on the Autodesk University show floor, so we couldn't see a demo. Was BlankAI a company? A product? A website? A startup with a dazzling PowerPoint, but as of yet, no finished product?

When prodded for more information, an Autodesk executive says BlankAI is "5-10 individuals" that spun off from "some German company." 

We'll update this section when additional information about BlankAI becomes available.