AI models accelerate physical product design and engineering workflows

OpenAI is demonstrating how its advanced models are assisting engineers across mechanical and electrical disciplines in the design, simulation, and creation of physical goods. Internal testing showed that two team members utilized Astra to design a functional device, including its enclosure, PCB, and software, in under a week, with prototypes built by a contract manufacturer in less than a month. In external collaborations, the company is partnering with Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) to convert 3D scans into editable CAD models and manufacturing drawings, and has initiated a research effort with Mazda to use AI for aerodynamic and crash-safety evaluations of new vehicle designs. Furthermore, internal hardware teams have seen model usage grow 23-fold since February. Performance benchmarks are also being tracked, with a newer internal model achieving an average score of 0.875 on BenchCAD 2.0, surpassing GPT-6 Astra's highest reasoning setting of 0.594. The company is actively seeking engineers and firms to collaborate on shaping the future development of these tools for industry use.