Professional designers should not feel “threatened” by the rapid growth of generative AI, according to business leaders, despite fears over job losses in the sector.

With design and film production companies and manufacturers all adopting AI at an accelerating pace, industry bodies said the technology would be used to enhance the work of designers rather than replace them.

Mat Hunter, the chief executive of the Design Council – a charity which champions the industry – said that while AI was increasingly being used by designers, “they are using it to add value”.

He said: “We are aware that technology always displaces people with new ways of working. However, we believe in the imagination and inventiveness of designers to find opportunities. We believe the UK needs more professional designers, so overall employment should continue to grow.”

Deborah Dawton, chief executive of the Design Business Council, said: “What protects great designers from AI is skill, experience, empathy and deep understanding of the sectors they operate in. So, no, [workers] shouldn’t feel threatened if they operate at this level.”

Earlier this year research, conducted by The King’s Institute for Artificial Intelligence and the Policy Institute, showed 57% of the public think AI will lead to widespread unemployment. Last week, freelancers including designers told the Guardian they were picking up “soulless” work correcting AI errors.

The Design Council said on Monday that its analysis showed the sector – which covers everything from the design of household products and fashion to building and transport design – had grown by 40% between 2019 and the end of 2023, beating the economy’s 23% average rate of expansion and leapfrogging the size of the retail industry.

Research funded by the council for its triennial overview – Design Economy 2026 – showed that sectors like construction, services and manufacturing support 2.27m design jobs, and that there has been a 15% increase in employment between 2020 and 2025.

While the figures estimating the size of the industry pre-date the arrival of dominant AI tools including ChatGPT and Claude, the employment figures to the end of last year indicate that their use has done little so far to affect the demand for workers with design skills.

Hunter said design was often considered to be an add-on or nice-to-have, but was essential to industries from advanced manufacturing to digital services.

“People don’t realise design is everywhere and is about trying to make things usable,” he said.

He added that the government’s consolidation of hundreds of public sector websites into one consistent design was an example of improvements in a service that can be supported by designers.

Dawton said AI was being used as a substitute for the work done by human designers, but “rip-offs have been happening for a very long time – AI hasn’t enabled that”.

The industry went through a similar transition when companies began using computer-aided design software, displacing draughtspeople, but Dawton said modern workers could find jobs elsewhere in the industry as it expands.

She added: “The key thing to remember is that these copycats look the same but they aren’t the same. The materials, finishes, methods of manufacture, assembly, colour, etc, mean that they are very different products.”

Over the longer term, she said: “We have to adapt to any technological change that takes place around us. The difference with the design industry is that large chunks of it drive that change.

“For most in business, efficiency/optimisation is the main conversation around AI. Designers have a second conversation with AI, which is about the potential it opens up in the hands of a creator.”

Andrew Duff, head of the Society of Garden and Landscape Designers, said many people working in his industry were nervous about AI. He said design companies were more likely to use AI as “the intern in the office” than as a replacement for skilled staff.

The Design Council report said some regions had grown strongly over the last eight years, though from a low base. There was an 88% increase in income from design across all industries in Wales and a 67% rise in the north-east of England. The south-east remained the hub for design industries, accounting for £43.3bn of gross value added (GVA) – a calculation of income from economic activity – compared with just £3.1bn in the north-east from a UK total of £136.7bn.

Its contribution was larger than the UK’s retail sector, worth £114bn, and nearly twice the size of the accommodation and food service industry, worth £70bn.

Hunter said a lack of skilled workers was a bigger problem than AI after entries for design and technology GCSEs declined by 68% over the decade to 2024.

Dawton said: “We need specialist teachers and equipment in schools if we’re going to inspire the next generation of world shapers at an early age.”