Will A.I. Replace Your Decorator?

We’re in the midst of yet another tech upheaval. But, for interior design at least, artificial intelligence might not be as scary as it seems.

- Julie Lasky

 

Ben Uyeda is an architect and product designer in Joshua Tree, California, with more than a million and a half YouTube subscribers. Asked whether artificial intelligence, the technology that has everyone looking over their shoulders, will replace anyone's decorator, he said, "No, it won't even come close."

For Uyeda, A.I. is a helpful rendering tool that persuades potential clients that he is attuned to their dreams while sparing him the time-consuming and costly job of doing initial drawings. Using a presentation software called Tome, he'll generate images of, say, a gold-plated shipping container in the middle of the desert where a dinner party can be hosted. The quality isn't as good as the rendering that would take him two weeks and cost the client more than $1,000, but "it helps the client see very quickly something visual," he says, and gets a relationship off the ground.

In this scenario, no one from Uyeda's office is sent packing, and the firm can commission more work and consequently lower its prices for clients. (His firm is called Lowest Common Design for a reason.) The only business  that might get disrupted is third-party rendering services.

But what happens when A.I. evolves to the point of soaking up inspiration from a client's mood board, spitting out a dozen different sketches followed by lists of materials and furnishings from discount suppliers offering free and fast shipping?