Between AI and the economy, design industry leaders prepare for a bumpy 2025

Design industry leaders trust artificial intelligence less than they did a year ago, and many see the world as an increasingly uncertain place.

These are a few of the most striking takeaways from the 2025 State of Design & Make report from the design and engineering software maker Autodesk. This third annual design industry outlook is based on surveys and interviews with 5,594 industry leaders, futurists, and experts across industries including architecture, engineering, construction, and operations, design and manufacturing, and media and entertainment.

Leaders from what Autodesk calls the “design and make” industries were asked to report on a wide range of topics, including adoption of digital technologies, sustainability efforts, supply chain challenges, and the growth of AI.

AI is a recurring topic in the report, but one of the most striking results is just how skeptical industry leaders are becoming about AI and its use in their businesses. Only 65% of architecture, engineering, and construction professionals say they trust AI, down from 76% last year. That may not change its impact on the business, however, as 68% of firm leaders believe AI will ultimately enhance their industry, compared with 48% who think it will be a force of destabilization.

But while AI is still an open question for many design industry leaders, there are some ways it has been largely embraced. According to the report, 39% of industry leaders say they are using AI to be more sustainable in their business practices, up from 34% in 2024 and 26% in 2023.

The global economy is another overarching theme in the report, with many industries expressing concern and uncertainty. The architecture industry stands out, with leaders from the field predicting dark times ahead. Last year, 74% of architecture leaders reported that they were well prepared for unforeseen future changes in the global economy. This year that number has dropped to 46%, the steepest decline among all industries surveyed. The number of architecture leaders who see the global landscape as more uncertain than three years ago has risen from 35% to 57%. Just 55% of leaders in the architecture sector say they will increase investments in the next three years, a 28% decline from 2024.

This design industry outlook may feel a bit like a knee-jerk reaction to the tumultuous economic conditions that have emerged in the early months of the The President administration, but industry leaders were seeing these clouds on the horizon long before. The quantitative data that the report is based on was collected between May and August of last year.

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