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Lakshmanabalakrishnan R , 03-02-2024, 05:07 AM

What will be the future for PCB designers with 20 years of experience by 2044? Can technological advancements like AI completely replace the role of PCB designers? I look forward to reading interesting comments and ideas in this forum.

Robert Feranec , 03-02-2024, 07:55 AM

I think there will be always need for people who can put everything together, make the right decisions and execute them. I can imagine AI to be able to come up with ideas for new products and completely design the boards, but I am expecting some kind of turn to happen. By turn I mean, changes always trigger other changes to keep balance.

QDrives , 03-02-2024, 03:41 PM

I do not think that AI will replace (the better?) electrical and PCB designers any time soon. There still is too much experience, knowledge and especially a deviation from the datasheet to get products (working).

Robert Feranec , 03-03-2024, 12:22 PM

@QDrives I was initially skeptical about AI vs Schematic and PCB Layout, but I talk to many people and I am very surprised to hear about directions and techniques what some companies are working on and I think, at least for some kind of boards it will be possible to use AI to create them. I don't think it will be in 1 year, but 20 years mentioned in the original message is a lot of time. Probably the most interesting technique is when AI will teach itself from combination of doing layout and running simulations. I think, systems designing simple boards will come soon - of course quality of the layout may be initially questionable, but with the time they will improve.

QDrives , 03-03-2024, 05:13 PM

That is why it also wrote "(the better?) ... designer" . Simple boards, yes.
And in 20 years time, I hope that the world has realized that AI can be very dangerous too, not only for the (human) lives, but also for livelihood (ie. work and income).
It is not just AI itself, but the ones driving it (see the comments on talking negative about Biden versus Trump) and its data sources (how many datasheets advice 3 values capacitors...).

Lakshmanabalakrishnan R , 03-05-2024, 11:00 AM

Hello @Robert Feranec & @QDrives ,Recently, I noticed that Google Gemini is doing a lot of stuffs, which was triggered my question here. However, I believe there will still be challenges for AI to optimize everything perfectly according to specific requirements. Nevertheless, I find comfort in Robert's quote, "Changes always trigger other changes to keep balance," as it suggests that new opportunities will arise alongside advancements.