Are You Ready for ChatGPT for 3D Printing?

It’s one of those technologies that has everyone talking—and not just techies and software geeks.

ChatGPT technology, created by research company OpenAI and backed by Microsoft and other tech titans, employs different language models to automatically generate text, enabling the next-generation bot to engage, answer follow-up questions, and even challenge or reject requests in a more conversational way and far more effectively than traditional bots.

Now, AI Build, a SaaS company building AI software for additive manufacturing, has just come out with “Talk to AiSync,” a natural language-based system that employs its own visual toolpath programming engine, real-world manufacturing data, and the OpenAI ChatGPT large language model to make giving instructions to 3D printers easier. Currently in beta test with select partners, Talk to AiSync enables users to tap out recognizable prompts to automate complex 3D printing workflows. In a demonstration video, the team showed how regular language prompts—“slice the bunny with a 2mm layer height” or “increase the infill gradually in the next few layers to make the ears stronger,” directed through Talk to AiSync, could help optimize a 3D printing file for the world renown Stanford Bunny.

In a LinkedIn post, AI Build co-founder and CEO Daghan Cam said he anticipates the impact of Talk to AiSync to be two-fold: To massively reduce barriers to entry for mainstream adoption of AM and to empower designers and engineering teams to optimize production at lightning speeds. Cam said he doesn’t believe the bot will be a replacement for designers and engineers; rather he sees it as a new kind of natural language interface that elevates the user experience, keeping humans very much in the decision-making loop.

“Teams will focus on crafting complex, multi-objective engineering intents and getting better products made without the limitations of hard to master graphical software interfaces,” Cam wrote in the LinkedIn post. “`Print my part non-planar without using support, minimize start-stops and make sure there is at least 2mm additional stock on the top side for cnc milling afterwards’ is the kind of prompts that can be given to achieve application-specific requirements.”

AiSync is a SaaS platform that replaces manual coding with visual programming to simplify toolpath generation through a unified UI. The software generates a digital twin to simulate and ensure collision avoidance. Reporting and analytics capabilities make sure the 3D printing process is optimized and repeatable.

Want to see Talk to AiSync in action? Watch this video.