How is artificial intelligence being utilized to disrupt the yacht design industry, and should we approach cautiously given its rapid advancement?

Writer Risa Merl examines how AI is already becoming noticeable ahead of the forthcoming Superyacht Design Festival, which will include AI specialist and architect Neil Leach as the keynote speaker.

I’m staring at the computer screen when I notice a yacht appear. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen on the water; it has a superstructure that resembles a tall Egyptian pyramid covered with curved glass and gilded designs, mated to a rather ordinary hull painted turquoise. After entering a few keywords, it materializes as though created from a coded mist in a matter of seconds. And it really was.

Rob Armstrong, creative director at ThirtyC Yacht Design, is taking me on a tour of his studio’s current AI applications as he leads me through the realm of artificial intelligence (AI).

Among the numerous naval architects and yacht designers who have been investigating AI as a tool to help with the superyacht design process is Armstrong. Some designers, fearing AI could mean the end of creativity, have been less enthusiastic about using technology.