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Blueprint: Engineering in the Age of AI
Blueprint: Engineering in the Age of AI

I'm not training students for 2026, I'm training them for 2030 | Paul Russell

24 August 2026 41:35 Bench

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About this episode

Paul Russell leads the MSc in Integrated Industrial Design at Loughborough University and has taught CAD and design engineering for years. He was early to generative AI, running Midjourney betas in 2021, and now teaches a module on the ethics and aesthetics of generative AI in design practice.

In this episode, Martin and Paul get into:

  • Why students entering university this year are being trained for the industry of 2030, not today.
  • The AI CAD landscape: kernels vs harnesses, why the real opportunity is a modeller built from scratch, and how PTC, Autodesk and Dassault are responding.
  • What happens to CAD teaching when a fully dimensioned three view drawing can be turned into a STEP file in one click.
  • Sharing agency with AI inside CAD: from drafting tool back to genuine computer aided design.
  • The honest jobs conversation: drudge work gets automated first, and what that means for headcount.
  • The skills that stay valuable longest: design for manufacture, material selection and costing.

Blueprint is Bench's podcast on how AI is changing engineering, told through the founders, researchers and engineers working inside it.

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