alt Hacker NewsA friend of mine was borrowing the shop of a very well known luthier to build some furniture. I stopped by to check the whole situation out and I found them both with their brows furrowed trying to work out some tolerances for a joint on a scrap piece of paper. As an architect by training, I quipped "at some point you'll have to start making proper drawings of you projects ahead of time", to which the luthier replied "the plans are always the problem, you're better off letting the wood tell you how it should be put it together." to which I had no reply..
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Having recently had my bathroom done, I was surprised to see that none of the trades had any kind of drawing or preparation; everything was eyeballed together. Slightly less surprised when there was a catastrophic measuring error.
I have a lot of respect for the intuitive-improvisational mode, and some people can do it brilliantly while playing the violin, but I'm not sure it always works for making things.
The grandfather of one of my son's friends was a locally-noted woodcarver --- when his daughter first brought home her future husband, he handed the prospective son-in-law a piece of wood and a knife and asked, "What do you see in the wood?" When the reply was, "A piece of wood.", he took both back rather disgustedly.
His woodcarvings were _amazing_, in particular for his ability to work with the grain and even to chase a single ring so as to make a perfectly shaped, but seemingly impossibly thin and light wing of a bird.
My personal experience is that woodworking at hobby grade is a art+science+engineering in varying proportions depending on the person's interests. I can relate to your friend in that almost always, as I work through a project, it evolves in its details, joinery, design (even size as I make my mistakes) etc. However, it is important to visualise _what_ one wants in mind before beginning to mill wood. I sketch so much in various perspectives to narrow that down and try to visualise how my idea would materialise.
If AI could catalyse that first part and help visualise the idea in many perspectives that are easy to tweak and improve, I think it will be a solid base to work upon and change organically as we build it in the shop.