Autodesk is using AI to help people 'make anything,' CMO explains

The 2024 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity kicks off in France, with Autodesk (ADSK) CMO Dara Treseder joining Yahoo Finance's Brian Sozzi and Rachelle Akuffo to shed light on how the company is harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to revolutionize its business model and empower enterprises across industries.

Advertising is one of the many industries that use Autodesk's offerings, with Treseder emphasizing the company's versatility, stating, "Autodesk is used to design and make anything," from infrastructure to major advertising campaigns. She highlights the company's presence at the Cannes festival, where numerous businesses are receiving accolades for projects crafted using Autodesk's software. "It's really great to actually be here and exchange ideas and talk about how we could work together to continue to design and make the things that we are working on in better ways," Treseder remarked.

With Autodesk's software being utilized across diverse sectors, Treseder revealed that the company has strategically integrated AI to streamline various design processes. This AI integration within the Autodesk platform, enables customers to "automate menial tasks," "augment creativity," and "analyze complex information," ultimately empowering businesses to make more informed decisions throughout their design workflows. Treseder emphasizes that this AI implementation has significantly reduced process timelines across industries, ranging from media to project management.

Furthermore, Treseder highlights Autodesk's upcoming AI project, "Project Bernini," which aims to help customers use generative AI for their projects. "At the end of the day, AI is just a tool," Treseder told Yahoo Finance, adding, "It's all about how we as humans and the ingenuity we bring to using these tools to kind of create new experiences, new business models, and new ways to propel our businesses forward."

This post was written by Angel Smith

Video transcript

Joining Yahoo Finance in Cannes on this gorgeous day is the gorgeous Dara Treo Autodesk's CMO.

Thank you for taking the time to join us today.

Now, obviously this sort of environment, it's all about marketing with the name auto desk.

People don't always understand what it is, the, the, the business that you do here, but talk about how we do see it showing up, especially in media and entertainment.

Absolutely.

First of all, thank you so much for having me, really excited to be here.

You know, auto desk is used to design and make anything, whether it's the car, you're driving the bridge, you're driving it over the movies or games your kids might be enjoying along the ride and a lot of the ads and campaigns that we are celebrating here at Cannes.

We're actually designed and made with our auto desk software.

So it's been exciting to be here and to interact with a lot of our customers.

And when we think about how, you know, we're showing up here, our customers are actually excited because they're like, hey, we use our software to bring these things to life, to win these awards.

So it's really great to actually be here to exchange ideas and talk about how we can work together to continue to design and make the things that we are working on in better ways.

We've, I've known you for a while.

I just want to touch the third round here.

I've thought about changing the name of the company.

Has that discussion ever came up to like, better reflect what this company is, or is it still auto desk?

It's still auto desk.

You know, I think we have a lot of uh there is actually a lot of joy and love for the name.

You know, I, as you know, I used to run marketing at Peloton before I came to auto desk.

And when I was at Peloton, I would meet people that was so passionate about the brand.

You know, when I joined auto desk, if you had told me I would meet people that had like tattoos of our logo on their body, I would have told you really.

But yeah, no, I just don't, but maybe I should have, but we actually have customers who are so passionate that they have tattoos on their body of auto death.

So there is, there is a lot of love for the name between our designers and engineers.

You know, I don't know about how good tattoo removal is.

I think we're sticking with our name right now.

So you mentioned design and make and a lot of people perhaps aren't clear on that, but it's media, it's entertainment, it's engineering, it's architecture when you're trying to tailor so many different things.

How is A I really helping you tailor some of those strategies in so many different industries?

You know, our A I tool is really in our platform.

So when we talk about design and make anything, it's really based on our auto desk platform.

And so our desk A I allows you to automate menial tasks so you can focus on what's creative, what's strategic, it allows you to kind of augment your creativity.

So A I is not creative, you are, but our software can really augment your efforts.

And then also when we come to analyzing data, right?

Uh auto desk A I can really help with that analysis of the data kind of analyzing complex information to help you make better decisions and help you gather deeper insights and that cuts across every industry, whether it's architecture, it's media, it's entertainment, it's construction, it's product design or manufacturing last year when we talked to you here.

Besides the fact that it was raining, we I think talked about A I and it was still really on the fringes.

It was coming on quick.

But now we're a year into this.

What's the next generation of A I for auto desk?

And how will it impact your business?

Absolutely.

So we recently launched a project we're excited about called project Bernini, which basically allows you to take two D images, text, you know, other inputs and, and, and, and translate that into a 3D image.

So if you think about the impact and the power of that, that's huge.

Uh And this is generative A I right now, it's still very much kind of at the early experimental stages.

But we're excited about what this means for our industry and what we're starting to see are real use cases of customers using auto desk A I in powerful ways.

So I'll give you a concrete example, you know, in, in right in our backyard, in Oakland, California, one of our customers was actually able to use auto desk A I with affordable housing, so able to kind of create housing in a more effective and efficient way.

Thanks to A I, it kind of helped with reduction of costs.

It helped in making the process more effective and efficient.

So we're starting to these real new use cases of where our customers are taking auto desk A I and using it to transform the business.

So you mentioned something interesting because when you think about A I really in sort of washing away some of the inefficiencies and also reducing the cost.

What does that mean that in terms of peak ad spend, have we reached peak ad spend?

Then because of A I look, if there's money to be spent, marketers are gonna spend it.

So I think, I think, I think when it comes to ad spend.

I don't, it's not necessarily about peak ads spend, but I think what you're going to see is more effective ad spend.

So I think you're going to see instead of money being spent maybe on, oh, how can I create multiple versions of this that might be done more effectively with A I?

But then maybe I can place this in more effective ways I can use this in better context.

So I think you're going to see capital be deployed in more effective ways moving forward.

Thanks to A I.

Is this just an auto desk thing or do you think under other industries because of A I, we'll see peak media spend.

Um I think that I think that other industries are going to experience this as well where A I is going to unlock a new chapter almost and kind of there.

And so there will be new monetization opportunities that come as a result of what A I enables you to do because at the end of the day A I is just a tool, right?

And it's all all about how we as humans and the ingenuity we bring to using these tools to kind of create new experience is new business models, new ways to propel our businesses forward.

So I think you're going to see that across a variety of industries and for some of these new companies that are coming online, obviously, it's it's hard to break through the noise here.

How can they really cut through and use some of the tools and resources that auto desk has to stand out.

So I think the key is about leveraging our tools um to deliver unique innovative creative experiences and then telling the stories around that.

So it's been really fun and exciting to kind of see how our designers and engineers are actually working with the marketers.

Not only to create these better products is more innovative but interesting product, but customers increasingly care about how things are designed and made.

They want to know what is the sustainability that went into this.

And so with auto desk, our software is enabling our customers to be more sustainable, to create things in better ways to better serve their communities.

And so starting to tell those stories really helps our customers stand out.

Tough question for you here.

Da One of the top stories right now on y on Yahoo Finance is Starboard and auto desk.

Um Is it hard to get your story out when an activist is trying to tell their own story?

And how do you counter something like that?

Well, look, it's never, you know, I would say one of the things that we are focused on is listening to our shareholders, right?

So we wanna hear what all our shareholders have to say, right?

As a board, as a management organization, we focus.

So I'm making sure that we're listening and and you know, we, we take constructive input.

So we're making sure that we're learning, we're listening is important.

But, you know, we are very confident in our strategic direction.

We're confident in how we're operating as an organization.

We just recently released our uh first quarter earnings for 2025.

We had a 13% year over year increase in constant currency.

So we are proud of the result and we will continue to improve and continue to work.

You are constantly being recognized as one of the most prominent, especially on for, we see your name coming up constantly.

How does the role and really leadership, how has that evolved through your different positions through Peloton through?

So, you know, I as a veteran CMO there's almost nothing I haven't seen or dealt with or worked on.

And so I think what this means is, it's given me a greater sense of confidence in my ability to work with my team to address whatever happens.

There's on every year on my marketing plan.

There's one thing, the unexpected thing is gonna show up that I didn't plan for.

But now with so many reps in um a and, and having such an amazing team that I get to work with at auto desk, I'm able to kind of bring my expertise and my learnings from all of those different opportunities to make sure that whatever comes our way, we're ready and we're prepared, you're confident um that auto desk, culturally and operations wise.

Is it a good place?

I mean, there has been some things going on with the company at some accounting at Starboard.

But you're ok.

Things are good.

Things are good.

It's a great company.

I mean, I have to tell you, I just wanted you to speak.

I just wanted to get your side of this.

Auto desk is an incredible company.

When I first joined the organization.

I was blown away by how many people like.

In fact, we're actually one of the few tech companies that have what we call boomerangs.

People who work at auto desk, they go somewhere else and they'll be like, I need to come back to auto desk because they what auto desk.

It's such a great company focused on putting our customers for designing and making things in the world around us, the impact that we have and the culture at the company is amazing.

It's one of innovation, one of humility and just real passion for the work that we do, what we really care about designing and making a better role for all that stuff just gets you so excited every morning and, and, and I couldn't be more thrilled and excited for our future and everything that's happening at auto desk.

We appreciate you taking the time to join us out here in Cannes.

Doctor.

See the auto desk svo Thank you for joining us.

Thank you so much for having me