> those tools already have quite a lot of automation

Not to mention the level of customization and tooling that companies like Apple have themselves built out around the PCB tool. Playing around with Cadence at home is going to be a different experience than using it at a large tier1 company.

I was mostly sticking with more systemic factors against AI adoption, but I agree with you completely.

As you said, professional PCB design has largely automated the easy stuff, and the hard stuff is going to be largely illegible to an LLM. A competent engineer could route a 10L HDI board which powers on in under a week, getting it ready for mass production is what takes the other 8+ months and 5 design spins, and I don't see much opportunity for AI to help there.