Requiring CS & AI May Not Meet Industry’s True Needs

As artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes engineering, design, and manufacturing, many policymakers and industry leaders recommend that it and computer science should be a core graduation requirement in U.S. schools. Several states have already moved in this direction. But not everyone agrees that this would address the most pressing needs of tomorrow’s engineers.

Mechanical engineers who lead major firms are among those saying that AI must become second nature. Andrew Anagnost, President and CEO of Autodesk, is one of them. Trained as a mechanical engineer, Anagnost has repeatedly stressed that AI literacy is fundamental to the profession’s future.

“If the coding models are going to be doing the code for you, what’s more important is that you understand there’s this whole notion of systems-level and interdisciplinary thinking,” he told Business Insider.

At Autodesk’s 2024 “Design & Make” event, he also emphasized how deeply AI is tied to industry challenges: “AI can help people literally do more with less… There’s not enough people, materials or money to make or remake or rebuild everything that needs to be made or rebuilt. AI can help solve some of these capacity problems.”