How AI Is Rewriting Design: Inside the State of AI & Interior Design Report with Guy Ailion
How are interior designers actually using AI—and what are they afraid of? In this episode of I Hear Design, host Robert Nieminen sits down with Guy Adam Ailion, co-founder and CEO of Mattoboard, to unpack the company’s new State of AI & Interior Design report. Based on a global survey of designers and architects, the findings reveal a striking paradox: AI adoption is widespread and many designers feel it boosts creativity, yet concerns about homogeneity, plagiarism, bias, and a loss of creative authorship remain.
Guy explains why the most experienced designers are often the most optimistic about AI, while young designers report the highest anxiety despite leading in daily usage. He shares practical ways firms can protect their “design DNA,” why the next phase of AI must move from prompts to control and context, and how new tools like Mattoboard’s Design Stream aim to bridge the gap between inspiring visuals and real-world materials, budgets, and codes. The discussion also explores AI’s role in reducing sampling waste, accelerating sustainable material choices, and shifting designers from execution to orchestration in AI-native studios.
Whether you’re an AI skeptic, a power user, or somewhere in between, this episode offers a grounded look at how designers can stay in the driver’s seat while harnessing AI to support what Guy calls “the great creative mess” where the magic of design truly happens.
Meet Our Guest
Guy Ailion, co-founder/CEO, Mattoboard
Guy Ailion is the co-founder and CEO of Mattoboard, the platform digitizing the interior design studio with virtual 3D material sampling and visual curation. He is the author of Small Huge, a newsletter for designers, and has more than 20 years of architecture and design experience under his belt. He currently serves as a partner at KSR Architects & Interior Designers.
Guy started his design career in architecture in South Africa, designing boutique luxury resorts before moving to London and running a large architecture & interior design firm. His proudest accomplishments include designing and building the multi-award-winning IO House in London, an exemplary home for self-powered energy and contemporary design and technology. He also helped set up the Camden Create Festival in 2014, the first design and creative professionals festival in Camden Town, where he designed and built a large public sculpture to engage with attendees and highlight the essence of the event.
Guy holds a Master’s Degree in Architecture from the University of Witwatersrand, where he studied the future of libraries in third-world countries as the digital-first world develops. It was recognized as the best thesis in the country and nominated for a Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Presidential Award in the UK.
Key Moments in This Episode
00:00:05 – Setting the Stage: AI Meets Interior Design
Robert introduces I Hear Design, frames AI as a force reshaping the industry, and tees up the State of AI & Interior Design conversation with Mattoboard’s Guy Ailion.
00:02:25 – Meet Mattoboard & Virtual Sampling
Guy explains what Mattoboard is, how virtual 3D material sampling works, and previews Design Stream, an AI tool that builds real-world material palettes from a simple prompt or image.
00:05:05 – Why Study AI in Interior Design Now?
Guy shares his background in architecture and interiors, and explains why Mattoboard commissioned the State of AI & Interior Design report to understand both practical use cases and the psychology around AI.
00:08:24 – Who Was Surveyed? Inside the Methodology
A breakdown of the 250+ global respondents—students vs. professionals, firm sizes, and regions—offering a snapshot of today’s interior design demographics and attitudes toward AI.
00:10:31 – The AI Paradox: Superpowers vs. Authorship
Guy unpacks why the designers using AI the most often feel the most anxious, the tension between boosted creativity and threatened authorship, and why younger designers report more anxiety than seasoned veterans.
00:19:00 – Guardrails, Taste & Moving from Prompts to Control
A discussion on “taste” as a designer’s true moat, why selection and meaning-making remain fundamentally human, and how the next era of AI will shift from prompt-based novelty to controllable, iterative tools.
00:22:21 – ChatGPT, ‘Good Enough’ Work, and Professional Standards
The data behind ChatGPT’s dominance among designers, why many use AI more for speed and documentation than pure creativity, and the crucial difference between content creators satisfied with “good enough” and designers who need appropriate, accurate, and correct outputs.
00:25:28 – From Pretty Pictures to Real Specs: Introducing Design Stream
Guy describes how Design Stream aims to close the gap between AI visualization and real products—matching materials to project type, performance requirements, budget, and location so visuals and specs finally align.
00:30:44 – Trends, Tools & the Future of Taste
A look at how AI currently reflects existing trends (earthy neutrals, minimalism, quiet luxury) and how, as tools become more embedded in practice, they may start to actively shape future aesthetics—much like parametric software did for firms like Zaha Hadid Architects.
00:35:36 – Sampling Waste & Sustainable Material Decisions
Guy compares traditional material libraries to “bookstores before Amazon,” highlights the massive waste in physical sampling, and explains how digital libraries plus smarter logistics can cut waste while improving access to sustainable materials.
00:40:03 – What Should an ‘AI for Interior Designers’ Course Teach?
Guy outlines his dream syllabus: helping designers understand how AI actually works, its limitations and hallucinations, and why knowing those constraints is as important as understanding the differences between marble, granite, and porcelain.
00:43:24 – Five Years Out: Inside the AI-Native Studio
A forward look at contextual, vertically specialized AI copilots for materials, space planning, budgeting, and sustainability—and how designers will move from labor to leadership, shifting from execution to orchestration.
00:47:56 – How to Read the Report & Try the Tools
Guy shares where listeners can download the full State of AI & Interior Design report, how to try Mattoboard and sign up for Design Stream, and where to follow his writing for designers.
About the Author
Robert Nieminen
Chief Content Director
Chief Content Director, Architectural Products, BUILDINGS, and interiors+sources
Robert Nieminen is the Chief Content Director of three leading B2B publications serving the commercial architecture and design industries: Architectural Products, BUILDINGS, and interiors+sources. With a career rooted in editorial excellence and a passion for storytelling, Robert oversees a diverse content portfolio that spans award-winning feature articles, strategic podcast programming, and digital media initiatives aimed at empowering design professionals, facility managers, and commercial building stakeholders.
He is the host of the I Hear Design podcast and curates the Smart Buildings Technology Report, bringing thought leadership to the forefront of innovation in built environments. Robert leads editorial and creative direction for multiple industry award programs—including the Elev8 Design Awards and Product Innovation Awards—and is a recognized voice in sustainability, smart technology integration, and forward-thinking design.
Known for his sharp editorial vision and data-informed strategies, Robert focuses on audience growth, engagement, and content monetization, leveraging AI tools and SEO-driven insights to future-proof B2B publishing.