This makes complex engineering software easier and faster to use, reducing friction in routine tasks and lowering the effort required to work across CAD and PLM workflows.
How it works
The user asks for an action in plain language, and the copilot interprets the request, selects the right operation, and executes it in the engineering tool without forcing the user through every manual step.
Application here
A voice- or text-driven assistant inside the CAD tool automates repetitive operations such as creating features, editing geometry, and searching for parts.
Business impact
This reduces routine CAD work substantially and frees designers to spend more time on complex and creative engineering tasks.
Limitations
Suggestions may conflict with design intent or hidden constraints. Capabilities vary by CAD platform, and complex assemblies remain difficult to handle reliably.
In production
This is already helping engineering teams work faster day to day by reducing tool friction and automating routine software actions.
Research
The frontier is toward AI assistants that can collaborate on larger engineering jobs, split work across subtasks, and support assembly-scale workflows rather than only single commands.
Examples
PTC Onshape AI Advisor — an in-CAD copilot: suggests the next feature, proposes parameters and explains tools directly in the modelling environment (PTC LiveWorx 2024). Autodesk Fusion AI Assistant helps with generative design and CAM setup inside Fusion — .