(Design: Lily Yeh | Image Credit: freepik)
Generative artificial intelligence has crept into every aspect of our online lives. Right now, the hottest trend in website builders centers around AI tools that can create entire websites with little input from you. As someone who reviews website builders for a living and recently updated his personal website using Squarespace, I've seen firsthand how "revolutionary" these AI tools are in practice. Simply put, AI can't compete with a human website designer, even one with just an average eye. Here are my biggest pet peeves about this emerging tech.
(Credit: PageCloud)1. AI Websites Have No Soul
Website builders have AI tools that let you create an online destination by typing a prompt or theme. They quickly whip up images, text, templates, and other essential site items. That sounds impressive, but the reality is far less appealing.
AI is especially disappointing on the design front because it lacks robust customization tools. This point became crystal clear as I fiddled with the website where I spotlight my books, including Video Game of the Year. I'm not a designer, but I obsessed over details like font choice and spacing. AI didn't sweat this small stuff, placing site elements anywhere in a rough approximation of the prompt. The software can't make interesting choices because it doesn't care.
Even if AI builds a foundation with potential, you'll probably have to use the web builder's other tools to clean things up. Plus, generative AI models tend to pillage from the same sources, so you risk making a cookie-cutter site.
With a human, whether it's you tweaking templates or a professional designer doing their thing, you'll get a unique website customized for your needs. Anything less, and you're doing yourself a disservice.
(Credit: Shopify)2. AI Content Makes No Sense
With AI, you can compromise and only have it generate some parts of your site—parts you can return to and edit later. That saves time, right?
There's just one problem: AI-generated content is awful. The writing is soulless and sometimes nonsensical, and the fake images are hallucinatory nightmares. When using AI to generate a site for Video Game of the Year, I got back an incoherent page full of random birds, mushrooms, guns, and only the occasional mention of Pac-Man.
Whatever you save in time, you lose exponentially more in quality. It's not just me. Google dislikes AI-generated content, too. So, make sure that a human crafts your site content.
3. AI Hurts Your Brand
Businesses need websites to sell products and attract clientele, so AI may help—when used behind the scenes. After all, computers are better at numerous tasks to help your business thrive, including optimizing your site for search engines, creating algorithms that predict user behavior, and automating marketing emails.
Just be sure your customers never get a whiff of AI when using your site on the front end. If your site is filled with obviously AI-generated material, it immediately hurts your brand.
We've seen the broader consumer backlash against AI already play out. Online publications have come under fire for laying off writers and filling pages with vapid AI articles. Drake lost his Kendrick beef when he experimented with AI rap. AI is a playground for unserious grifters, and the jig is up.
(Credit: Wix)4. AI Sucks at Customer Support
Don't outsource customer support to a chatbot. I didn't need customer support for my site, but I can't think of anything less desirable than forcing a human in need to deal with AI. It frequently traps people in question loops or offers generic documentation to answer specific questions.
Companies need more real people in customer support, not robotic roadblocks. Fortunately, you can hire third-party representatives to field customer questions.
We Don't Need AI to Build Websites
Just because websites may not seem as artful as books or movies, they still call for intentional choices in their design that only the human touch can provide. Website builders themselves are fantastic, helpful services that I happily recommend to anyone trying to create their own digital hub. Check out some of our favorite website builders below. But the AI tools they include should only be called upon for the occasional assist, not to do all the work for you. Better yet, ignore them entirely. It's very easy. I love how my website came out and how it summarizes a career I’m so proud of. But my website is great because I made it, not AI.