2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Reverse Engineering and design optimization are common engineering practices. However, integrating reverse engineering with generative artificial intelligence in a learning setting remains unexplored. Literature shows that reverse engineering activities enhance systems thinking, creativity, and technical communication in engineering disciplines. Recent advances in large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, provide meaningful ways to facilitate reasoning and learning when properly guided. This paper introduces Learning by AI-Assisted Reverse Engineering (LARE), a proposed pedagogical framework that integrates reverse engineering with generative AI tools. The proposed idea is substantiated with an author-led pilot study using Aladdin software, a generative computer-aided design tool for building design simulation. Through a collaborative inquiry, we used Aladdin design software and LLMs to reverse-engineer a building design, analyze its energy efficiency through simulation, and optimize design variables. Our goal was to experientially and reflectively understand how engineering reasoning and literacy manifested as we engaged in AI-supported design. Results from simulation improvements and reflection data reveal conscious uses of LLMs in support of reasoning variables, energy optimization techniques, and reflection on generative artificial intelligence.