Research and explore the use of new materials, technologies, and products to incorporate into designs.

“Research and explore the use of new materials, technologies, and products to incorporate into designs.” is a core task performed by Interior Designers. Among the occupation's 15 rated tasks, workers place it 4th by importance (#12 most important). About 100% of workers say it is relevant to their job.

This is a single occupation-specific task statement from O*NET. The figures below describe how central the task is to the job and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the task will be automated.

Work activities this task rolls up to

O*NET groups concrete tasks into broader work activities shared across many occupations.

• Maintain current knowledge in area of expertise. in Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E2. Exposure with tools — software built on top of a language model (not the model alone) could cut the time by at least half.

Exposure measures whether a model could meaningfully speed the task up — it is an estimate of overlap with model capabilities, not a measure of whether the work will be done by software. The study's intermediate score (β) for this task is 0.50. Automation potential label: T2.

Other tasks in this occupation

• Design plans to be safe and to be compliant with the American Disabilities Act (ADA). · importance 4.8
• Use computer-aided drafting (CAD) and related software to produce construction documents. · importance 4.7
• Confer with client to determine factors affecting planning of interior environments, such as budget, architectural preferences, purpose, and function. · importance 4.6
• Advise client on interior design factors, such as space planning, layout and use of furnishings or equipment, and color coordination. · importance 4.5
• Coordinate with other professionals, such as contractors, architects, engineers, and plumbers, to ensure job success. · importance 4.5
• Review and detail shop drawings for construction plans. · importance 4.4
• Inspect construction work on site to ensure its adherence to the design plans. · importance 4.4
• Render design ideas in form of paste-ups or drawings. · importance 4.3
• Subcontract fabrication, installation, and arrangement of carpeting, fixtures, accessories, draperies, paint and wall coverings, art work, furniture, and related items. · importance 4.0
• Select or design, and purchase furnishings, art work, and accessories. · importance 4.0
• Estimate material requirements and costs, and present design to client for approval. · importance 3.9
• Design spaces to be environmentally friendly, using sustainable, recycled materials when feasible. · importance 3.7
• Formulate environmental plan to be practical, esthetic, and conducive to intended purposes, such as raising productivity or selling merchandise. · importance 3.7
• Plan and design interior environments for boats, planes, buses, trains, and other enclosed spaces. · importance 2.5

See all tasks on the Interior Designers page.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-task-20999,
  title  = {Research and explore the use of new materials, technologies, and products to incorporate into designs.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/tasks/task-20999}
}