[adamweld]

A recent Ezra Klein Interview[0] mentioned some "AI-Enabled" CAD tools used in China. Does anyone know what tools they might be talking about? I haven't been able to find any open-source tools with similar claims.

>I went with my colleague Keith Bradsher to Zeekr, one of China’s new car companies. We went into the design lab and watched the designer doing a 3D model of one of their new cars, putting it in different contexts — desert, rainforest, beach, different weather conditions.

>And we asked him what software he was using. We thought it was just some traditional CAD design. He said: It’s an open-source A.I. 3D design tool. He said what used to take him three months he now does in three hours.

[0] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/15/opinion/ezra-klein-podcas...

[sota_pop]

Sounds like he could have been using an implementation of stable-diffusion+control-net. I’ve used Automatic1111, but I understand comfyUI and somethingsomethingforge are more modern versions.

[throwaway314155]

Happy to be corrected but this sounds like the kind of bullshit that crops up from time to time confusing "old" AI with generative AI.

Not that I don't believe it's possible. I just think the alternative (that it's bullshit) is more likely.