AI is here. What it can actually do for your studio — explained plainly, no experience needed.
CE Pro Magazine · July 2026
CE Pro covered this class after its debut at the Boston Design Center, where a room of interior designers and architects spent the session on the parts of running a firm that have nothing to do with design — meeting documentation, project management, marketing, and the administrative drag that quietly eats a week. No hype, no jargon, and nothing you can't put to work on Monday morning.
Read the full article in CE Pro"I want to function like I have 25 employees, but there's only eight of us."
Adam Zell, Boston Automations
AI has gone from novelty to everyday tool in about eighteen months — and most of what's written about it is either hype or homework. This is neither. It's a calm, practical afternoon for designers who want to know which tools actually matter, what each one is good at, and how to put them to work in a real studio. Bring your phone or laptop and a current project in mind; leave with things you can use the same week.
It took the telephone decades to reach the mainstream. AI did it in a long weekend. Here's the short version of how we got here — and why this is the right moment for design studios to lean in.
ChatGPT reaches a million users in five days — the fastest adoption of any tool ever recorded.
Claude, Gemini, Midjourney and dozens more arrive. The tools multiply across every kind of work.
The models stop being party tricks and start doing real, sustained, professional work.
Agentic AI moves from answering questions to completing tasks — drafting, building, organizing for you.
The class is built around the luncheon: a working session before we eat, and a hands-on session after. No prior experience assumed.
The widely-available all-rounder. Writing, brainstorming, client emails, quick answers — your reliable first stop.
Deep thinking and long documents. Brilliant for detailed briefs, proposals, and nuanced, careful work.
Lives inside the Google tools you already use — email, calendar, docs — for everyday tasks where you work.
Answers with cited sources. Like a research assistant who always shows their work — good for staying current.
Concepting, references, and quick visuals — used as a starting point, never a substitute for your taste.
The real unlock: an AI set up once with your voice, your templates, and your process baked in.
Most AI talks are theory from a stage. This one comes from a working design-build practice that uses these tools every day — to spec faster, write better, and free its people to do the parts that need a human. You'll see what's real, what's hype, and what's worth your time, from someone with skin in the game.
Live examples from Boston Automations — field notes, proposals, and spec drafting handled with AI in a real studio.
Every example is framed for interior design — your clients, your deliverables, your pace — not generic business advice.
This is education first. You leave with tools you can use whether or not we ever work together.
"The studios pulling ahead aren't the most technical — they're the ones who got curious early. My job in the room is to make that head start feel easy."
Adam Zell — Founder & CEO, Boston Automations. Boston Automations is the technology partner behind some of New England's most awarded residential projects, and designed the region's largest Bang & Olufsen experience at the M-Geough showroom in the Boston Design Center.
We're hosting at the M-Geough showroom in the Boston Design Center — home to New England's largest Bang & Olufsen experience, designed and installed by Boston Automations. You'll learn surrounded by the kind of spaces you design.
While you're with us, you'll hear about the Boston Automations Design Collective — a partnership where we become the technology arm of your studio, so you can offer more without adding headcount or learning a new trade.
The class is complimentary and by invitation, capped at 20 designers so the conversation stays real. Tell us a little about your studio and we'll email you the moment the next session is scheduled.
We'll email you as soon as the next session is scheduled — keep an eye on your inbox.
M-Geough Showroom · 1 Design Center Place, Suite 350, Boston, MA 02210 · Questions? hello@bostonautomations.com