Machine learning and automation are always in the news. From apps that curate and deliver tailor-made news to the growing market for machine learning engineers, we can’t get enough. There’s considerable interest in things that work like the human brain but aren’t actually human. There’s always the question of how these developments will change what it means to be productive, freeing up more time and increasing capabilities.

By 2022, IDC says, 60 percent of G2000 businesses will be AI-enabled. While machine learning and automation used to be associated with things like burger-flipping robots,  we’re thinking a lot bigger these days (both in terms of scale and capacity). In industrial and manufacturing fields, artificial intelligence is making way for new processes that are smarter than ever.

The Boundaries of What Machine Learning Can Do

Machine learning lends itself to machines that are infinitely more capable of helping in various ways, including manufacturing and even design. Of course, there is no need for fear–our artificially intelligent friends are meant to assist us, not obsolete us. While the assembly line may be gone before long, humans are still required to oversee work, think at levels incapable by machines, and generate ideas.

Machine learning is cutting-edge and fascinating, but it’s not the hammer for every nail that’s out there. If you’re examining the wrong set of data, for example, you won’t learn much. Humans are essential for almost any enterprise at some level, and that basic fact won’t be changing any time soon.

Machine Learning: Many Industries, Many Uses

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are especially prevalent in automotive manufacturing, where precision and accuracy are crucial. Naturally, big data uses machine learning too, using algorithms designed to find and correct errors, analyze results, and improve future iterations of a project.

For engineers, machine learning could mean big things. Imagine being able to utilize a voice assistant to make design adjustments, ask for information, or get assistance analyzing a result. Artificial intelligence and machine learning could also help with image processing. Machines could look for inconsistencies in structure and weaknesses, leading to improved safety. AI could learn to recognize objects within a scene too, opening up possibilities for new kinds of design.

Artificial intelligence also impacts the design process via the Internet of Things, both as engineers use it and as they design for it. The increased ability to connect devices to each other has the potential to not only change the way we design things but what we’re designing in the first place. It is just a bit of an exaggeration to say that the possibilities are almost endless here.

Fusion 360: Combining Machine Learning with Human Resourcefulness

Engineers can only put machines to good work if they know how to harness and point plentiful data at the right sources. Generative design principles allow the best of human ingenuity to couple with the staggering potential of machine learning, and companies like Autodesk are hard at work to combine machine learning with great products to improve the design process for engineers.

In Fusion 360, you can utilize a singular environment for maximum flexibility, allowing you to leverage AI for simple solutions to complex problems. Integrated tools don’t diminish human value. Instead, they build upon our distinctly human capabilities, ensuring better, faster designs and designers get more time to dedicate to other things. Fusion 360 is the perfect compliment to artificial intelligence and machine learning. With easy-to-use design tools and the support of a community, you’re capable of changing the design world, one model at a time.

Try Fusion 360 for free today.