An integrated development environment (IDE) for designing, programming, and configuring aspects of an industrial automation system uses a generative artificial intelligence (AI) model and associated neural networks to generate portions of an industrial automation project in accordance with functional requirements provided to the industrial IDE system in intuitive formats, such as spoken or written plain language text. The system uses generative AI to translate plain language requests or functional specifications into industrial control code, human-machine interface (HMI) applications, device configuration settings, or other aspects of an industrial control project.