When I first joined Rolls Royce, one of the first things my mentor told me was simple:
“If your name is on something, you should be able to explain every line of it.”

It was not just about pride of ownership. It was about accountability, knowing that your signature meant something. If a part failed, your name was not just on a drawing. It was on the outcome.

That lesson stayed with me. Because engineering, at its core, is about responsibility. Every design is a promise that something will work as intended, safely and predictably, even when people’s lives depend on it.

But that promise is starting to blur.

As AI begins to assist in design, suggesting dimensions, optimizing topologies, and rewriting code, the line between who decided and who approved becomes less clear. The machine makes the recommendation. The engineer clicks accept.

If that part fails, who really made the mistake?
The model? The training data? The person who trusted it?

We talk a lot about AI replacing engineers, but the real question might be subtler. If no one can explain a decision, can anyone be responsible for it?

Tools will keep evolving, but responsibility should not.
Because responsibility is not just a legal construct. It is the emotional gravity that keeps engineering honest.

The future of design will depend on how we carry that weight, not by shifting blame to our tools, but by designing systems that help us remember why we made the choices we did.

Because in the end, accountability is not a burden.
It is the signature that makes the work human.

I am putting my name on this.
Arjun