Artificial intelligence – rightly or wrongly – is becoming more prominent in creative industries, forcing many to rethink their future careers as the technology improves at an exponential rate.
While the internet is awash with AI-generated images of cars which will never see the light of day, carmakers are aware of the threat AI poses to design jobs.
Speaking to US outlet ABC News, Mercedes-Benz chief design officer Gorden Wagener spoke candidly about how AI could change the car design industry, and potentially put him out of a job.
“We work with AI now. You get 99 per cent of crap with AI and sheer quantity,” Mr Wagener said.
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“That’s the biggest problem – sorting out the good stuff from the bad. But you get one per cent good stuff and we keep learning. It’s getting better every day.
“AI will drastically change the way we design. I think in 10 years maybe most of design will be done by AI and it will make designers obsolete.
Mr Wagener jokingly added: “My successor will be a machine and will be much cheaper than my salary.”
Mercedes-Benz isn’t the first carmaker to openly talk about the potential impacts of AI on car design, with Nissan last year admitting the facelifted Qashqai’s design was aided by AI tools.
“If you look at this grille, it’s quite clever, it’s designed partially with AI. We use it to start the pattern and then finish it by hand,” Nissan’s European vice president of design, Matthew Weaver, told media including CarExpert at the Qashqai’s UK production home.
“I mean, there are many ways to come up with a design, either by sketching it by hand or building it by hand. But actually, we can now run [AI] programs where we can generate various patterns.
“We scan a little bit, we set a computer to run on different patterns, then we select that front [design] … then at the end we just jump into the AI design and finish it by hand.”
Within the car industry, AI is being used for more than just design.
Volkswagen has started to integrate AI chatbot ChatGPT into the IDA infotainment voice assistant system of some of its new models.
In Australia, Suzuki recently announced 92 of its dealerships will feature ‘Hey Suzi’, an AI product allowing customers to book a service, make an enquiry or be transferred to roadside assistance.
It’s been introduced as a way to lighten the administrative load on Suzuki’s staff, and in turn reduce costs.
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