AI is now drawing parts. Who checks the drawing?

WHAT HAPPENED

OpenAI says its models now help design physical products

OpenAI published how its models help engineers design, simulate and build. Its hardware teams use Codex and ChatGPT to create and revise CAD models, prepare manufacturing drawings, set up simulations and review designs.

THE NUMBER

23x

Growth in model usage across OpenAI hardware teams since February

Measured in tokens. Usage, not proof of results.

THE REAL PROBLEM IN COMPANIES

What I see in companies: the model is rarely the bottleneck

1. 01The tool sits outside the real design workflow, so engineers keep drawing by hand
2. 02Nobody defines who reviews the output before it reaches the client or the field
3. 03No one records how long the drawing took before, so there is nothing to compare

I'VE ALREADY SOLVED THIS

Consult Eng, a Brazilian sanitation engineering firm, runs this in production

1. 01I built a Revit automation that generates sewage pumping station models
2. 02Revit runs headless in the cloud, using APS Design Automation
3. 03The automation sits inside the design workflow, not beside it

MY TAKE

Measure instead of assuming.

OpenAI itself says the test device still needed several rounds of review before manufacturing. That is the point. AI in engineering pays off when the output is measured against how long the drawing took before.