Can AI Replace an Interior Designer? | #47
Return on Design
The episode explores the integration of artificial intelligence within the interior design industry, weighing its benefits against its significant
Key takeaways
- Approximately 40% of design firms are already incorporating AI into their professional workflows.
- About 80% of firms utilize AI specifically for generating early-stage visual renders.
Main topics
- AI in interior design
- Visualization vs. execution
Notable quotes
AI isn't coming to interior design. It is already here.
Conclusion
AI should be embraced as a tool for efficiency and ideation rather tha
Transcript preview
Speaker 1 (0:00) Because now we're not just competing against people, right? Yeah. Speaker 2 (0:04) For Speaker 1 (0:05) market share, we're competing against technology. And the best way to use that to your advantage is to understand your competitor, understand the technology, understand AI, understand how you can leverage it for your own growth and your own benefit and differentiate yourself. Welcome to Return on Design, the podcast where beauty meets strategy. and interiors become assets that perform. I'm your host, Rachel Niederhofer, designer, investor, and builder of high-impact spaces that deliver real results. Alongside my husband, I run both a design firm and a real estate investment company, where I live at the intersection of creativity and ROI every day. Each week, I'll be unpacking what most people overlook, how strategic design decisions can grow your investment, elevate your lifestyle, and unlock the full potential of your property. You'll get real tools, proven strategies, and unfiltered conversations with industry experts who are doing it right. So if you're ready to invest with purpose and leverage design as a powerful tool, this podcast is for you. In a world saturated with artificial intelligence, AI isn't coming to interior design. It is already here. And statistics show that about 40 % of firms are already using it and 80 % are using it just for early visual renders. But what's interesting is that homeowners are actually using it as well. It says about 80%, which is a good number. So if AI can actually generate an image, then the question becomes, is a professional really necessary? And this is the conversation that we need to have because yes, AI can generate an image, but an image isn't necessarily a design. And it definitely isn't necessarily an executable design. Speaker 2 (1:57) That's true. Speaker 1 (1:58) So today I want to talk about AI around the profession, what AI actually changes, what it doesn't change, and where the designer actually creates a real value. for the return on design. So let's just kick this off with, you know, AI is a benefit. Speaker 2 (2:18) Yeah, I know. It's a great tool. Speaker 1 (2:20) Yeah. And it does do some things very well. What do you think it does well? Speaker 2 (2:25) I mean, I think AI can be used to generate some visuals very quickly. It's very good at that. Things that used to take a lot of time. It can speed some of the processes up. Speaker 1 (2:38) Definitely. It can also To the speed narrative, you can pivot in aesthetics really quickly. So if you wanted to show one style that lends maybe a little more modern and one that has a little more traditional, you can make real fast tweaks to renders to give people good conceptual practice. Speaker 2 (2:59) Without going back to the entire process of rebuilding the entire room. Speaker 1 (3:03) Huge time saver. Speaker 2 (3:05) Yeah, I mean, so it's great for some efficiencies. And efficiency matters. Speaker 1 (3:10) Yeah, it's really good at organizing information, helping you maintain structure, especially for creative minds. You know, sometimes we are not the most organized in our ideas because we're always creative and like thinking of the next thing. So it can help kind of bring some foundation to that. I know for me, AI is really good at language presentation because I can be a very direct person, especially via email or text. I'm kind of a straight shooter. And so AI can help me add a little more personal touch to my presentation and language sometimes. Speaker 2 (3:53) Yeah, I mean... It can help in a lot of the different presentation modes, but it's great for the designer trying to make lots of different changes quick, getting rid of a lot of repetitive work Speaker 1 (4:06) and Speaker 2 (4:07) helping you with those designs and getting ready to put all that presentation together and help gather all the thoughts. It's really good at putting a lot of things together really quick. But to your point earlier, it's not the greatest always for... the overall conceptual of it's a great design, but is it executable? Speaker 1 (4:27) Yeah. And so with all of the opportunity that AI does bring to the table, as professionals, it's not a scary thing. We shouldn't run from it. We shouldn't be threatened by it. We've got to figure out how to use this tool as an asset to optimize our own practices and all of the great benefits that do come along with it. Yeah. Speaker 2 (4:49) Okay, so let's... Let's go into that a little bit with, you know, there's a lot of great benefits in doing things through AI, but where does it fall short? Speaker 1 (4:59) Well, I mean, like I said, AI is really good at creating visuals quickly, giving you an idea, not just for yourself, like, you know, homeowners are using it. So if they have an idea and they maybe are having trouble seeing it, that's a huge value add in the space of design specifically. And then for designers, to be able to articulate what you see quickly and effectively is significant because it builds trust and it actually can help facilitate the acquiring of a project, if you will, which is Speaker 2 (5:32) really valuable. However, Speaker 1 (5:34) AI is not going to present real... structure to a plan without information being added. So it could scan a room, as an example, and get rough dimensions of the room. But in terms of scale, proportion, actual workflow in the space, those are things that AI needs the human input to add to the ability to actually accomplish the design beyond. No, just that immediate visual. For example, if I took a picture of a room and I said, I want to see this as a kitchen in a modern style with white oak cabinets and herringbone backsplash, let's say. It should be able to produce that relatively good, but it may not capture scale independently. So if I don't tell it, I want the cabinets all the way to the ceiling. I want the range to be 60 inches wide. And if I'm not giving it these specific dimensions, it's just like a gamble. It's like playing a slot machine. It's not necessarily going to independently derive really specific design details that are proportionate. If I don't tell it that information. So if I, as a designer know, okay, there's six people living in this house, we need to have oversized hallways as an example, or the primary needs to have eight foot doors that people here are really tall. And like those really specific details, AI can't do that without human interpretation. Speaker 1 (7:14) It can't do that without really knowing more. Well, I guess I said that. Knowing more information. The Speaker 2 (7:20) more you put into it, the more it generates for you. But I think, and part of that, and what I've watched from you with some of the design and the AI is like, it can't lay out all the design that you see in your head. Like, oh, we're going to do a custom kitchen. Speaker 1 (7:35) It Speaker 2 (7:35) can give some of the details. It can make a very nice range hood. oh, wait, what about the hidden spice rack that you're putting in to the sides of the range, of the stove, or whichever, if you're going to do it up higher, you're going Speaker 1 (7:51) to Speaker 2 (7:51) do it down low. Speaker 1 (7:52) It Speaker 2 (7:52) can't do that until you start really putting into those dimensions. And even