The irony is, that what started this blog was an intrigue into whether AI could really take over my job. In a world that is currently consumed by AI whether it be to tell me what outfit to wear today, diagnose symptoms I may have or make an image look nicer, do you ever wonder whether AI technology will replace what you do?

So I asked Chat GPT, whether it could ever take over my job and here was its answer:

“I can’t take your job because what you do lives in the real world. Interior design isn’t just picking pretty stuff—it’s reading people, walking a space, understanding light, materials, budgets, contractors, timelines, and the thousand tiny human decisions that happen on site. I don’t have eyes, hands, or that gut instinct you get when a room finally clicks.”

I’m not going to lie, I was secretly pleased. In my heart of hearts, I knew that AI could never replace the emotional connection that I have with a client, the the ability to walk through a space, the understanding of budgets or design constraints, and the means to feel the texture of a material, as well as make quick decisions when in a clients home. It isn’t a person and therefore would never understand the feeling that I would get when designing a room correctly.

I do, however, believe that it can be beneficial when used correctly. It may help me explore concepts quicker, give me current trends or source ideas and tweak a design concept to make it more legible for a client. Whether I chose to use it for that is another matter.

I still strongly believe that it doesn’t and will never have the ability to stand in a space and say this is how you would want to live- I may eat my words in 20 years time when we are all living with AI robots.

Emotive responses in our brains and in turn our bodies, are the things that get us excited by a space. We all know what we like and therefore conveying that to another human being may be challenging at times but certainly easier than trying to explain it to AI.

I wanted to test it again, so gave it a plan and some images of materials and furnishings that I wanted to include and asked it to create a room setting for me- here’s the image.

Its nice but it failed. Its knocked down walls which I know the client doesn’t have the budget for. It has added stools in quite a lot of places, which again the clients don’t want and its replaced everything which again isn’t want the client either wants and can afford. I know that I could input more information, be more specific and specify every single item, but I can’t spend all day telling it its wrong and do this instead. I have a human that I employ to create my CGI’s for me, someone that if I need to, I can pick up the phone to and quite frankly I will be sticking with this option. Why? For speed, accuracy and human interaction.

If AI ever does take over interior design completely, it’ll still need someone like me to explain to the client why the sofa can’t be two inches bigger. That is why I’m safe….for now.