AI Is Reshaping CAD, but Suppliers Must Be More Ambitious to Stay Ahead

During October 2025, major Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software vendors Autodesk, Dassault Systèmes, PTC, and Siemens released significant Artificial Intelligence (AI) updates, focused on embedding copilots within design environments. Dassault Systèmes released new information on SOLIDWORKS 2026 (expected rollout in November 2025) that includes the general availability of AURA, an AI assistant (currently in beta). PTC debuted Onshape AI Advisor, similar to Creo AI Assistant (currently in beta), which allows users to access real-time design guidance and troubleshooting help from within the Onshape platform. Siemens implemented Design Copilot in Designcenter Solid Edge, a feature that had been rolled out in NX in June. These AI-related updates follow Autodesk’s AU 2025 in September, during which AI was the focal point of its CAD vision. Autodesk is teasing neural CAD technology—AI that natively understands and reasons with geometry.

The updates from Autodesk, Dassault, PTC, and Siemens show that copilots have become table stakes, with all major suppliers offering an AI assistant in at least one product. Most companies now are focused on developing AI-enhanced features that leverage AI to automate repetitive tasks or boost the accuracy and efficiency of existing tools. Examples include Fusion AutoConstrain, SOLIDWORKS Mate Assistance, PTC Creo Generative Topology Optimization (GTO), and Solid Edge Magnetic Snap Assembly.

While PTC, Siemens, and Dassault have different approaches to AI in CAD, their roadmaps prioritize using AI to optimize workflows, rather than considering how AI can reshape them. PTC plans to continue deployment of agentic workflows to streamline the design process in Onshape, including model troubleshooting, interaction with model metadata, and generating FeatureScript code. Meanwhile, Siemens (Xcelerator) and Dassault (3DEXPERIENCE) are leveraging AI to tighten feedback loops within their integrated platforms, demonstrating the most advanced AI applications today. Siemens’ Designcenter, which encompasses NX and Solid Edge, works closely with Simcenter and Teamcenter to leverage simulation and product lifecycle feedback into product design. Similarly, Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE orchestrates collaboration between CATIA and SIMULIA, enabling AI/Machine Learning (ML) models to train on simulation and design data to optimize future designs. Importantly, Dassault has conceptualized 3D UNIV+RSES, an AI-powered architecture built on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform that converges data streams to simulate and visualize real-life conditions for manufacturers.

Autodesk neural CAD, however, signals a unique shift toward foundational AI that can reason about geometry and generate designs from high-level inputs, potentially unlocking immense efficiency and collaboration among product designers.

Autodesk’s neural CAD is an exception to the trend of isolated AI applications—a foundational model trained to understand CAD geometry and work natively in geometric space. Geometry-aware reasoning would signal a major step forward in AI-powered CAD, but Autodesk must ensure that technological advancements connect directly to increasing the speed and accuracy of product design. Customers will need guidance on using neural CAD effectively to guarantee that it accelerates product design and actually automates 80% to 90% of routine tasks, as Autodesk promises, given that 65% of manufacturers cite a robust onboarding process as an essential consideration when selecting a vendor.

Both Siemens and Dassault must lean on their integrated platforms, as those are their main differentiators. 3D UNIV+RSES is a promising idea that rivals Autodesk’s neural CAD ambition, but the lack of product demos or beta tests indicates it is a long-term vision that is difficult to resonate with customers now. Siemens and Dassault must build foundational models that learn across projects to reason about designs before simulation and automatically adapt parameters based on simulation results—these are concrete steps to use AI to close the loop between simulation and CAD without over-promising an ecosystem built on AI.

PTC must capitalize on Onshape’s cloud-native architecture, which provides a unique opportunity to innovate toward a horizontal AI backbone. Onshape’s cloud-native characteristic enables broad access to customer behavior, empowering a foundational model with a strong source of product design data and the ability to run across CAD, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), simulation, and analytics platforms.