Most engineers I speak to fall into one of two camps when AI comes up. Either they are excited but unsure where to start, or they are sceptical and waiting to see if it is actually useful. After presenting MECAD’s recent webinar on SOLIDWORKS AI and spending months working through these features firsthand, I can tell you this: the tools are real, several are already live, and engineers who start using them now are going to have a meaningful advantage over those who wait.

This article covers what SOLIDWORKS AI actually is, which features are available today, and what is coming in the next 18 months. Whether you are a design engineer, a CAD manager, or a technical director evaluating your team’s software investment, this is what you need to know.

What SOLIDWORKS AI Actually Means (and What It Does Not)

There is a lot of noise around AI at the moment, and it is worth being precise about what we are actually talking about.

SOLIDWORKS AI is not a separate product bolted onto your existing software. It is intelligence embedded directly into the tools you already use every day, running on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform infrastructure. That distinction matters, particularly for engineers concerned about data security. Your engineering data and IP stays within the same secure environment you already rely on. Nothing is being sent to a generic public AI model.

At a high level, SOLIDWORKS AI shows up in two ways:

Embedded AI is intelligence built into existing features. It predicts, repairs, automates, and accelerates. You do not need to learn a new interface. It works quietly inside the tools you already know.

Virtual Companions are AI agents that operate at a higher level. AURA, LEO, and MARIE can understand context, reason across multi-step workflows, and help engineers move from working inside a feature to working across an entire design process. Think of them less as tools and more as a technically capable co-worker who is always available.

What Is Already Live and Worth Using Today

This is the section I wish more engineers knew about, because a number of these features have been live since 2025x and are simply not being used.

The Command Predictor is one I use personally and find genuinely useful. It uses a transformer model trained on real SOLIDWORKS workflow data to predict your most likely next command based on what you are doing in the session. After a sketch, it might suggest an extrude. After a cut, it offers a pattern. It is not always right, but it learns, and the time saved on navigation adds up quickly across a full design session.

Mate Replication is another that I think is underrated. It can replicate mate relationships across geometrically similar instances in an assembly, generating 50 or more mates from just three or four user interactions. For anyone who has spent time manually mating repeated components, the value here is immediate.

BRep to Parametric Modelling (LEO) is already live as of FD02 in April 2026, and this one is worth calling out specifically. A manufacturing company in KwaZulu-Natal that we work with regularly receives supplier models as neutral STEP or IGES files, static geometry with no design intent. Their engineers were spending hours rebuilding those models from scratch before they could make modifications. LEO converts that neutral geometry into editable parametric features, giving engineers control again without the manual reconstruction. That is the kind of time saving that justifies updating to FD02 today if you have not already.

If you are on an active SOLIDWORKS subscription and have not updated to FD02, I would strongly recommend doing that now. Several of these features are already waiting for you.

What Is Coming and Why Drawing Generation Is the One to Watch

During our webinar, we ran a live poll asking attendees which workflow challenge costs their team the most time. 40% said drawing generation, annotations, and documentation. That is not surprising to anyone who has spent a career in mechanical engineering. Drawings take time, and the gap between a finished 3D model and a fully detailed, spec-compliant 2D drawing is where a significant amount of engineering hours quietly disappear.

Prompt to Drawing (LEO) is the feature that directly addresses this. It drops in FD03, July 2026. You define the standards, the constraints, the formatting requirements, and the annotation expectations via a prompt. LEO produces an engineering-grade drawing that conforms to those specifications rather than a generic default. We demoed this live during the webinar and the question we got most in the chat was: can LEO do assembly drawings with a bill of materials? The answer is yes, and that capability will be included.

Beyond July, the 2027 roadmap is where things get particularly interesting. Image to Mesh will allow engineers to photograph a physical object and mesh it directly in SOLIDWORKS, turning a photograph into usable 3D geometry. Spec to CAD will generate structural starting models from a natural language specification, including load cases and material requirements. Drawing to Parametric Model will convert 2D PDF drawings into editable SOLIDWORKS models.

These are not distant promises. The roadmap is structured around fixed delivery windows: FD01 in February, FD02 in April, FD03 in July, FD04 in September, and GA in November. The 2026x cadence is already well underway.

One important licensing note: the Virtual Companions (AURA and LEO) are accessible via SOLIDWORKS Cloud Services and require SOLIDWORKS 2025 or newer. If you are on an active subscription, you are likely already covered. Reach out to your MECAD contact to confirm your access.

What to Do Before Your Next Project Starts

SOLIDWORKS AI is not something you need to prepare for, it is something you can start using today. Here is where I would focus:

• Update to FD02 if you have not already. BRep to Parametric, What’s Wrong Analysis, and Assembly Structure Generator are all already live.
• Turn on Command Predictor and run it through a real project for two weeks. You will notice the difference.
• Identify the most repetitive task in your current workflow and ask whether there is an AI feature that addresses it. Drawings, mates, sketch repair, and geometry simplification are all covered.
• Watch for FD03 in July. Prompt to Drawing is the one that will generate the most conversation across engineering teams.

AI is not here to replace engineers. It is here to give engineers leverage in a market that demands faster delivery with fewer resources. The teams that start engaging with these tools now will be better positioned to adopt the more advanced capabilities as they land.

If you would like to see any of these features demonstrated in your specific workflow environment, feel free to reach out to us at MECAD.