Artificial intelligence has become the hottest topic in interior design technology.
Every week seems to bring another AI tool promising to automate specifications, generate product recommendations, or eliminate hours of manual work.
But there's one problem.
Most specification workflows are still built around copying information from manufacturer websites into spreadsheets, PDFs, and disconnected software. If the underlying data is scattered and inconsistent, even the smartest AI has very little to work with.
The real opportunity isn't simply adding AI to the design process—it's creating structured product data that AI can actually use.
Ask almost any commercial interior designer where they lose the most time, and product research is likely near the top of the list.
Specifying a single product often means visiting multiple webpages, downloading cut sheets, comparing finishes, locating dimensions, saving images, and manually entering everything into a specification document.
Now multiply that by hundreds—or even thousands—of products across a hotel renovation, senior living community, retail rollout, or healthcare project.
The work is repetitive, but it's also critical. Every missed dimension, incorrect finish, or outdated model number can create problems later during procurement, installation, or construction.
For years, firms accepted this as part of the job.
Today, AI is beginning to change that.
Much of the conversation around AI has focused on creating images or writing text.
While those tools are valuable, they're not solving one of the biggest operational challenges facing design firms: organizing product information.
The next generation of AI is shifting from generating content to extracting, organizing, and connecting data.
Instead of asking a designer to manually enter every product attribute, AI can understand a manufacturer's webpage, identify relevant information, and structure it into usable project data.
That distinction matters.
Raw information has limited value.
Structured information can power specifications, budgets, procurement, approvals, reporting, and collaboration across an entire project.
Importing product information is only the first step.
What happens after the import determines whether AI actually saves time.
If the imported data simply becomes another spreadsheet or disconnected note, the manual work continues downstream.
But when that information becomes part of a centralized project platform, every team benefits.
Designers can reuse approved products instead of recreating specifications.
Procurement teams can generate RFQs and purchase orders without re-entering product information.
Project managers gain better visibility into budgets and approvals.
Owners can maintain consistent brand standards across dozens—or hundreds—of locations.
AI becomes far more valuable when it's feeding a connected workflow rather than isolated documents.
One example of this shift is Fohlio's new Import from Weblink feature.
Instead of manually copying product details from a manufacturer's website, users simply paste the product URL into Fohlio. AI extracts the available information—including product images, descriptions, dimensions, finishes, manufacturer details, and other specification data—and converts it into a structured specification that can immediately be used throughout the project.
The goal isn't to replace the designer.
It's to eliminate one of the most repetitive parts of the specification process.
Designers still review, edit, and enrich the information as needed, but they're no longer starting with a blank page every time they specify a product.
Every project generates valuable knowledge.
Historically, much of that knowledge has been trapped inside PDFs, spreadsheets, or completed projects that are difficult to search.
As AI-powered product capture becomes more common, firms have an opportunity to build something far more valuable: a living product library.
Each approved specification becomes easier to find, reuse, and improve.
Historical pricing helps estimate future projects.
Frequently specified products become standardized across offices.
Preferred manufacturers become easier to identify.
Instead of recreating information, firms continuously strengthen their own knowledge base.
Over time, that institutional knowledge becomes a competitive advantage that's difficult to replicate.
The most successful firms won't necessarily be the ones using the most AI.
They'll be the ones with the best data.
As product information becomes structured and connected, AI can begin assisting with much more than importing specifications.
It can recommend alternate products when lead times change.
Identify missing specification information before procurement begins.
Suggest products based on previous projects.
Compare supplier pricing.
Surface budget risks earlier.
Help enforce brand standards across multiple locations.
Those capabilities depend on having clean, centralized data—not just powerful AI models.
Interior design has always required creativity, technical expertise, and attention to detail.
None of that is changing.
What is changing is how much time designers spend on repetitive administrative work.
As AI continues to mature, the firms that benefit most will be those that use it to remove friction from everyday workflows—not replace human expertise.
Capturing product information directly from manufacturer websites is one example of that evolution.
It's a simple improvement on the surface, but it points toward a much larger transformation: specifications that build themselves, project data that stays connected from design through procurement, and teams that spend less time managing information and more time creating exceptional spaces.
That's where AI delivers its greatest value—not by replacing designers, but by giving them more time to design.
Fohlio combines AI-powered product capture with centralized specification management, budgeting, procurement, collaboration, and reusable product libraries in a single connected platform. Rather than simply collecting product data, it transforms that information into structured project intelligence that supports every stage of the commercial interior design process.