AI (artificial intelligence) has helped revolutionize and streamline many industries and tasks.
What used to take a team of people hours to complete can now be done in a matter of minutes using one of the latest LLM (large language models) like Google Gemini or OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Not escaping the clutches of AI, the web development industry has also seen incredible advances in using AI to generate content and build websites.
For this reason, many have moved to using AI to ensure that content is generated on time, is relevant, and can be published ahead of the competition.
This ethos is similar to that used by other industries, such as online gambling. With rife competition, many websites operating in the iGaming sector need to be one step ahead of the competition to attract players and make their platform stand out.
Only the best, like those found using this handy webpage, do this successfully—sometimes with the use of AI and sometimes without.
Today, we’ll examine the use of AI in web development and content creation. By understanding the pros and cons of this approach, we’ll discover whether it actually works or if the human touch still reigns supreme.
Article Contents
Web Development
Web development is a complex and lengthy process for any site not built using an online web builder.
It is estimated that, for larger websites, developers can spend anywhere between 10 hours and 10 months developing a single website—sometimes more, depending on the goals of the site and the resources available.
Using AI to achieve these results can significantly reduce costly development fees and enable quicker launch times for new sites.
However, this approach is a double-edged sword as it comes with both pros and cons.
Pros
Faster Development
One of the most significant benefits of using AI in web development is how it speeds up the process.
This is because AI can automate specific repetitive tasks such as writing certain code snippets and testing parts of a site.
Quicker development times mean that websites can launch earlier than planned, begin receiving traffic, and build a domain ranking more easily.
Optimized Performance
Because AI can run through an entire website’s code and identify essential code from waste code, it can optimize a website’s performance, speed, and usability.
When this is done, sites are more responsive and perform better—leading to a better overall user experience.
Cost-Effective
Alongside shorter development times, using AI in web development also reduces website creation costs.
Depending on the type of site, a website could cost between $1,000 and $145,000 to develop. This fee is significantly reduced if most of the work is done by AI and not by a web development specialist.
Data-Driven User Experiences
The final benefit of using AI is that it is highly dependent on data. AI can use data such as site tracking data and analytics to optimize website design and streamline particular sections to improve performance and, ultimately, the user experience.
Cons
Limited Creativity
Despite all the benefits above, there are some cons to using AI for web development.
The greatest of these is the limited creativity that AI models can offer—particularly if the same model is used to develop many websites.
When this occurs, websites may suffer from a lack of original design or innovation and may fail to present the brand’s identity in an effective manner that is worthy of the brand.
Debugging Difficulties
Aside from lacking creativity, AI can find it challenging to debug code it hasn’t written (and sometimes even code it has). This is because AI models are programmed using the latest programming language.
Developers who use shortcodes or fail to follow the latest practices may write code that AI cannot process, potentially leading to missed bugs.
Bias
Many believe that AI models are biased because of how they are programmed and what they are taught.
This bias can introduce specific elements into web design or website functionality that may suit one group of users over another.
Content Creation
Like web design, content creation is difficult to consistently excel at.
With tight posting schedules, a strong need for originality and creativity, and many competitors vying for attention online, content must be curated to reach the most people and have the most significant impact.
Efficiency
AI can help content creators streamline the creation process by generating new content in a fraction of the time it usually takes.
This content ranges from new social media posts to email replies—something global brand Unilever proved by reducing email response times by 90% through the use of AI.
Consistency
Aside from being more efficient at creating content, AI can track what content has been generated over thousands of posts or item descriptions.
This knowledge can help it ensure that the same tone or brand style is kept in new posts, leading to more consistent content over a longer period.
Scalability
One of the most significant challenges to becoming a content creator is scaling operations upward.
This is often due to time and resource constraints, as a single creator can only create so much content in a single day.
AI helps you scale because it can create bulk content quickly and provides more time to take on other tasks.
Enhanced SEO
As with web development, AI’s data-driven approach means it understands the need for specific keywords and content optimization.
This means that it can often provide content with enhanced SEO (search engine optimization) markers that will make the content easier to find online.
Limited Originality and Emotion
Despite being able to create a large quantity of content quickly and efficiently, AI has been known to lack creativity, originality, and the emotion that only humans are capable of. This con has meant that many people can quickly identify AI-generated content.
Perception
The ability to identify AI-generated content quickly has led to a shift in perceptions online.
Despite initially being fine with content made by AI, recent polls show that most people prefer human-created content and are less likely to engage with AI-generated content.
SEO Issues
The final con of using AI for content creation is that some SEO engines may rank your content downward.
Google, for instance, checks that all AI-generated content is original, helpful, and high-quality. If your content does not meet these factors, it may be penalized and harder to find.
In Summary
In short, using AI for web development and content creation does work. However, the downsides of using any AI platform need to be considered.
Therefore, while these tools can make development and creation easier, they should be used in tandem with human elements to mitigate the possible negative effects of using AI.
