Helping design and engineering professionals discover, evaluate and specify technologies and processes that shorten the design cycle and enable success.
Alert!
Digital Engineering ceased publication on July 1, 2026. This website remains available as an archive of engineering content.
For inquiries or information, please email [email protected].
Digital Engineering April 2026
In the latest issue of Digital Engineering, we take a look at the latest innovations in design for additive manufacturing, including the use of natural language inputs, social media cosplayers, and AI integration. The issue also includes a feature…
January Special Focus Issue: Design for Additive
In this Special Focus Issue of Digital Engineering, learn about the latest advancements in design for additive manufacturing, including new software tools, additive in automotive, custom medical devices, and more.
Fictiv has released Materials.AI, an industry-first AI assistant powered by ChatGPT that helps mechanical engineers quickly and easily navigate material options for their manufacturing needs.
Materials.AI is powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT technology through an application programming interface integration with Fictiv’s digital manufacturing platform and is extensively trained on Fictiv’s manufacturing data and offerings. Engineers can consult with Materials.AI directly on the Fictiv platform, receive informed material suggestions, and place their manufacturing orders—-all in one place, on-demand.
Materials.AI helps engineers navigate multi-factor considerations to make fast, informed decisions, the company reports.
“Historically, manufacturing consultation has been largely confined to one-on-one conversations with too few experts, making it slow and difficult for engineers to get the information they need when it comes to manufacturing,” says Chris Lippi, chief product officer at Fictiv. “At Fictiv, we leverage technology to democratize access to critical manufacturing knowledge, tools, and services. And so we’re thrilled to leverage groundbreaking advances in AI large language models and our own growing dataset to provide customers with an even better service experience.”
Materials.AI is the latest advancement in Fictiv’s AI-powered manufacturing platform, which employs computational geometry algorithms to analyze the manufacturability of mechanical part designs in seconds. This enables customers to compare in real-time thousands of different combinations of manufacturing process, material, finish, lead time, and geographical options with pricing information to make efficient decisions for their manufacturing orders, the company says.
Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.
Fictiv was founded in 2013 to eliminate a major bottleneck in new product development: custom mechanical part sourcing.
DE's editors contribute news and new product announcements to Digital Engineering. Press releases may be sent to them via [email protected].
Follow DE
Join over 90,000 engineering professionals who get fresh engineering news as soon as it is published.
About Us · Contact Us · Editorial Team · Advertising · Privacy Policy · Subscriber Services · © 2026 Digital Engineering 24/7 · Peerless Media