Why can't you just use a general AI for engineering? Discover the four key challenges, from reading CAD files to ensuring accuracy, that specialized AI tools must overcome.
What It Takes to Build an AI for Mechanical Engineers
A question I hear a lot is, "Why do we need a specialized AI for mechanical engineers? Can't I just use a general AI tool?"
It's a fair question, but it reveals a misunderstanding of what engineering data is. Building a true AI for our profession isn't about processing text; it's about understanding the unique language, formats, and high-stakes nature of our work.
1. The Knowledge Barrier: Engineering Isn't Common Sense
A generic AI trained only on web data will miss much of mechanical engineering’s critical context. Key knowledge lives in specialized standards, manuals, and databases beyond the reach of general web crawling - without it, AI can’t reason effectively in the mechanical engineering domain.
2. The CAD File Challenge: Designs Are Not Simple Files
Engineering files aren’t everyday documents. They capture complex geometry, relationships, and rules that only specialized tools can interpret. Without knowing the language of engineering - planes, faces, bends, they’re just cryptic symbols.
3. From Reading to Understanding: The Need for Semantic Awareness
Engineering intelligence goes beyond the 3D model to the drawings and annotations that give it meaning. What looks like a simple table to most, like a title block, carries critical context only engineers understand.
4. The Accuracy Imperative: The High Stakes of Engineering Data
AI is built on probability, not absolute truth. For mechanical engineering, “close enough” isn’t good enough, precision matters. Without validation and rigorous checks, an AI’s answers risk becoming guesses rather than reliable guidance. To be trusted by engineers, AI must move beyond approximations and prove its accuracy.
The Right Tool for the Job
The future is a partnership, but we need the right partner. A generic AI is a jack-of-all-trades. To truly enhance our automated design review workflows and provide meaningful Real-Time Design Tracking, we need a specialist.
We need an AI that speaks our language, reads our files, understands our work, and respects the high stakes we operate in every single day. That's exactly why we built Design Agent, the only AI that truly understands mechanical engineering.
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