What an AI Workshop Taught Me About Giving Designers More Time to Design

I recently joined the BNI Global 环球 corporate visit to Aimplify at Dream Factory, Kuala Lumpur, for a hands-on AI workshop. There is a lot of noise about AI at the moment, so I appreciated a session that focused on substance rather than hype. I left with a clearer picture of where AI can fit into a design practice like ours, and why it matters for the people we design for.

Practical AI, not hype

The focus of the workshop was practical: how AI actually helps a business today. Not hype, but real use cases. The approach Aimplify shared is easy to remember: aim at the bottleneck, automate the steps, and amplify the results. Their own tagline sums it up well: save time, amplify ROI.

What stayed with me is the order of those steps. You start with the bottleneck, not with the tool. It is tempting to adopt AI simply because everyone is talking about it, but the real value comes from finding where time is being lost and fixing that first. The goal is to automate the repetitive steps and give people back time for the work that needs judgement.

We also had an honest discussion about the future: what changes next, and how SMEs can prepare instead of react. That framing resonated with me. Every business, including a design practice, will feel the effects of AI. The difference is whether we meet those changes with a plan or scramble to catch up.

What it means for architecture and interior design

Architecture and interior design are creative disciplines, but anyone who has worked in a practice knows how much repetitive work sits between the creative moments. Documentation, coordination, reporting and approvals all take time and care. They are essential to delivering a project properly, yet they are rarely where a great space is won or lost.

This is where I see the opportunity. At Ascendas Design Group, I see AI as a way to free our team to spend more time on what makes the biggest difference to our clients: design quality, client relationships and the decisions that matter most in a project. If the repetitive steps take less time, our architects and designers can put more thought into spatial quality, circulation and the experience of a space, whether that is a family home, an office or a hospitality interior.

None of this replaces professional judgement. A good design still depends on understanding the people who will use a space, reading the site and the brief carefully, and an architect taking responsibility for every decision. AI can support that work. It cannot do it for us.

Preparing instead of reacting

For architects and interior designers, the question isn't whether AI will change our work, but how fast. My main takeaway from the workshop is that the best response is to prepare calmly. That means looking honestly at how we work, identifying the bottlenecks, and adopting tools only where they genuinely save time without compromising quality.

What doesn't change is how we work with our clients. We listen carefully, we are upfront about costs and feasibility, and we make sure every space reflects the people who use it. If AI helps us spend more of our time on those things, it is a change worth embracing.

Thank you to the Aimplify team for hosting us, and to my fellow BNI members for a thoughtful session and good conversation.

Ar. Idr. Phang Mun Kien (MK), Founder and CEO, Ascendas Design Group

Planning a home, workplace or commercial interior and want a design team that puts its time into what matters? Book a consultation with us.