AI models are getting close to designing hardware better than humans, and that shifts where the hard problems are:

• Better simulation, so physical builds become confirmation instead of experiments
• Demand shifts toward parts, machining and raw materials
• AI labs need to capture the "process knowledge" that lives in machinists and fabs

The one step even superhuman AI will struggle to speed up:

"A superhuman hardware engineer could design one million new iterations of the Apple Watch and get them manufactured for cheap, but then how can it know what customers actually want?"

But once AI crosses over, "the impact should prove immense: humanity will be able to directly use digital AI tools to bring about real, physical, material abundance."

Full piece from a16z's Christian Keil on what hardware engineering looks like once AI masters design: https://www.a16z.news/p/superhuman-hardware-design-is-the