Building Websites with AI: What's real progress, and what's just illusion.
- Lucas Raganhan
- Jan 12
- 3 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
AI speeds up processes. But it doesn’t think strategically, understand context, or replace human decision-making.
Lately (in this AI-driven moment) one phrase has been spreading fast across the digital market:“Now anyone can build a website with AI.”
Technically? Yes.
Strategically? Not even close.
Between exaggerated promises and professional fear, an even shallower narrative started to gain traction:
“Web designers are going to disappear.”
This article exists to separate fact from fantasy, using data, context, and a bit of common sense.
What really changed with AI in website creation?
AI-powered tools evolved fast. Today, they can:
Generate layouts,
Create first-draft content,
Build basic page structures,
Suggest colors and sections.
According to McKinsey, generative AI can increase productivity in creative tasks by up to 40%, but it does not replace strategic decision-making.
“Will web designers disappear?”
Spoiler: no. But some profiles might.
The same conversation has happened before:
And yet:
Bad websites are still bad!
Websites that convert are still strategic.
According to Google, 53% of users abandon a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load, a problem that has nothing to do with the tool itself, and everything to do with architecture, performance, and strategic decisions.
What tends to disappear isn’t the professional.
It’s the professional who executes without thinking.
What AI does well (and where it fails)
This section highlights key insights from the Sirène Lab, organized to support clarity and discovery.
Where AI truly helps:
Fast draft creation,
Initial prototyping,
Automation of repetitive tasks,
Basic content organization.
Where AI does not replace humans:
Business strategy,
Information architecture,
User journey design,
Contextual and strategic SEO,
Branding and positioning,
A real, consistent tone of voice.
Google Search Central is clear about this: content and structure must be useful, relevant, and created for people, not just automatically generated.
Building a website isn’t about assembling pages. It’s about making decisions.
A website is not just:
A good-looking layout
A well-filled template
“Okay” copy
A website is:
A communication system guided by SEO
A sales tool designed for conversion
A decision point in the customer journey
AI can help assemble.
Only humans decide what actually makes sense for the business.
When AI works and when it backfires:
AI works well when:
The objective is clear,
There’s a strategy behind it,
It supports decisions instead of replacing them.
AI becomes a trap when it:
Replaces planning,
Ignores audience context,
Creates generic websites that all look the same.
The role of human professionals in this scenario:
Marketing, design, and SEO professionals are not losing space because of AI.
They are changing roles.
They move away from mechanical execution and step into strategy, curation, direction, and decision-making.
That’s exactly where brands differentiate themselves.
AI doesn’t replace strategy. It amplifies it:
Building websites with AI is not the end of web design.
It’s the end of the illusion that a website is just about appearance.
Those who understand strategy remain essential.
Those who only replicate don’t.
Curious to see real examples? Explore case studies of websites built with strong SEO, thoughtful design, and a clear focus on conversion.
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