AI Is Changing Design Fields. Is Lighting Next?

A recent New York Times article reviewed how AI is impacting creative fields, such as interior design, graphic design, filmmaking, video game development, and more.

The article examines new AI-design tools, such as:

Image by Suelynn Shiller using DreamStudio, AI image generator. 

• InteriorAI – AI interior design generator
• Midjourney – AI image generator
• DreamStudio – AI image generator
• Stable Diffusion – AI image generator
• DALL-E 2 – AI image generator

The InteriorAI interior design tool raises some interesting questions for the lighting industry. Interior designers can be lighting specifiers, along with lighting designers, architects, and engineers. If an AI interior design generator selects the lighting for a room or building, there are implications for manufacturers, agents, and distributors supplying the specification channel:

• Does the AI only suggest aesthetic directions, or does it suggest actual product models?
• If it suggests product models, how will the spec channel sell to these specifiers? Will they now have to sell their product lines to the AI interior design software developers, in this example?

With some online research, I found these additional AI interior design generators: Foyr Neo, Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3Ds Max, Homestyler, and Planner 5D.

What about the lighting design industry? Are there AI lighting design generators? It looks like they’re coming. MaestroDMX is on Kickstarter. It’s an autonomous AI lighting designer-in-a-box that listens to music and makes AV decisions like a professional entertainment lighting designer.

And what about luminaire design? Are there AI industrial design generators? There aren’t specifically for lighting, but some product designers are using AI image generators, like DreamStudio, to generate creative product concepts that could easily be applied to lighting products. With no design experience (nor skill), I generated the cobalt crystal and polished aluminum chandelier, pictured below, using DreamStudio. It took me about 10 minutes of playing with the prompts (similar to keywords in a search engine).

After reading half-a-dozen articles on AI-generated design and playing with the software, my takeaway is that  AI design programs are useful for providing creative design ideas, concepts, and images. They’re not ready to put designers out of work………yet.

Before and after images courtesy of InteriorAI, AI interior design generator

AI-generated chandelier by David Shiller.

David Shiller

David Shiller is the Publisher of LightNOW, and President of Lighting Solution Development, a North American consulting firm providing business development services to advanced lighting manufacturers. The ALA awarded David the Pillar of the Industry Award. David has co-chaired ALA’s Engineering Committee since 2010. David established MaxLite’s OEM component sales into a multi-million dollar division. He invented GU24 lamps while leading ENERGY STAR lighting programs for the US EPA. David has been published in leading lighting publications, including LD+A, enLIGHTenment Magazine, LEDs Magazine, and more.

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