It looks like MecAgent, which calls itself the “Cursor for CAD,” has a PR crisis on its hands.
A Reddit post from the SolidWorks subreddit that’s making the rounds points out that the AI agent software “scans your drives for CAD files and uploads them in the background.” The Redditor, Objective-Appeal-307, noticed the behavior when investigating why the AI chat was taking up so many network resources.
A representative from MecAgent responded, saying paid plans do not collect data and that free-tier collection was for potential future training that has not yet started. The startup says it’s paused data collection for the free plan until they clarify the terms. Signups for MecAgent’s free plan were disabled as of Friday, Oct. 30.
But the free tier is exactly where engineers are most likely to try the service on real work without understanding the data implications. Most engineers do not read the fine print before trying a “Cursor for CAD” demo.
The consequences could be severe if the tool uploads sensitive files to the cloud. For companies handling controlled technical data, it could put their ITAR (or EAR) compliance at risk, especially if the service’s servers or staff include foreign personnel. That could result in loss of existing work, disqualification of future bids, or both.
Three French engineers launched MecAgent in 2025 in San Francisco amid a surge of interest in AI for CAD. They report more than 35,000 installs of its AI for CAD copilot. A slider on its MecAgent’s website shows logos of NASA, Tesla, Apple, McLaren, Ford, Dyson, Porsche, and ZF under the phrasing “trusted by mechanical engineers.” Its monthly pricing starts at $84 for individual CAD users and $417 for “power users and growing teams.”
Dozens, likely hundreds, of startups are trying to create an AI engineer that that generates usable parametric CAD models. They range from Jeff Bezos’ $41 billion Prometheus AI to a longtail of small firms like MecAgent, Adam, Backflip, Leo AI, BuildCAD AI, ClassCAD, zCAD and many others.
Many of them use a freemium model to get engineers in the door. The data terms on those are often less protective than paid or enterprise tiers, though MecAgent’s seems to be the most aggressive.
The CAD data could be more valuable than a paid account because it supplies real engineering examples like parts, assemblies, feature trees, and design intent that are hard to generate synthetically. All of the players in the niche have presumably exhausted the open-source and publicly available CAD files that anyone can download. No company that’s actually in business wants its IP used to train AI that its competitors could use.
Large companies are bound to start prohibiting tools like this by their own staff and their engineering partners as legal and IT teams wrap their head around the implications. They’ll have to be integrated into tools the companies already trust like SolidWorks, Fusion, Onshape, etc.