Editorial Team There’s a ton of bad info going around about AI’s impact on web development, especially after big moves like Squarespace’s recent layoffs. People hear that and immediately think it’s a total robot takeover, pushing actual human skill aside for some fully automated AI website builder.
Key Takeaways
- AI website builders are great for spitting out a first draft and helping with content, but a human designer’s eye and strategic mind are still absolutely necessary.
- When a company like Squarespace has layoffs, it’s a sign they’re reorganizing to better use AI, not just firing people to let algorithms run the company.
- AI is fantastic at repetitive work and generating simple layouts, but you need a person for anything that requires real brand personality, complex user flows, or content that actually connects with people.
- Businesses should treat AI like a co-pilot for web development. Use its speed to get initial drafts done and chew through data, but keep a human hand on the wheel for all the critical design and messaging decisions.
- It’s important to know what AI *can’t* do, like solve creative problems or understand emotion, so you can set realistic goals for what you can automate in web design.
““Today’s AI agents like Muse and Instinct are good at simple routine tasks like making a restaurant reservation or scheduling an appointment. But planning a trip is different,” he said.”
Myth 1: AI Website Builders Will Completely Replace Web Designers by 2026
This is the biggest fear I hear, and it’s just wrong. The idea that AI will just absorb the entire field of web design, leaving no work for creative or technical people, shows a misunderstanding of what these tools actually do. Sure, AI tools have gotten impressive, but they work within the lines. They’re good at recognizing patterns and automating grunt work. For instance, an AI builder can scan a million sites in your industry and spit out a layout that looks standard. A tool like Durable AI can generate a whole site with starter content and images in minutes, which would take me hours. But what it generates is a starting point. It’s a blueprint, not a finished home. It can’t understand a brand’s unique voice, it doesn’t have the emotional IQ to build a user journey that feels right, and it certainly can’t build a site that makes a business stand out in a saturated market. A human designer brings empathy and critical thinking to the table, skills AI can’t touch right now. We’re talking about the ability to hear what a client isn’t saying, to turn a company’s abstract values into a visual language, or to guess how a customer might get frustrated during a complicated checkout process. People provide the authenticity and strategic glue. In my ten years of doing this, I’ve seen it over and over: AI can give you a decent foundation, but the polish and genuine connection that makes a site work always comes from a person.
Myth 2: Squarespace’s Layoffs Mean Their Platform is Fully Automated Now
When Squarespace announced workforce cuts in late 2023 and early 2024, the speculation went wild. A lot of people jumped to the conclusion that the company was going all-in on AI automation and firing the humans. That’s a massive oversimplification of what’s happening. Squarespace isn’t just eliminating jobs. It’s reallocating people and redefining roles to build AI into their system. According to their own official statements on the restructuring, the goal was to “simplifying operations” and “focusing on strategic priorities,” which absolutely includes more investment in AI tech. This means AI is augmenting jobs, not replacing them. For example, the support team is probably using AI chatbots to handle password resets and basic FAQs, which frees up the human agents to solve the really gnarly customer problems. Their product teams are almost certainly using AI to analyze user behavior data, finding pain points and suggesting new features way faster than anyone could do by hand. The point is to give your team better tools. It’s like giving a master carpenter a set of power tools instead of just a hammer and saw. The carpenter is still the expert, but they can build more, faster. This just means employees need different skills, focusing more on data analysis, training AI models, and strategic oversight instead of doing everything manually.
Myth 3: AI-Generated Websites Are Just as Good as Custom-Built Ones
The promise of an instant website is really tempting, I get it, especially if you’re a small business owner with no time or money. These AI builders say they can give you a professional site with almost no effort. And while they do deliver a functional site quickly, saying it’s the same as a custom solution from an agency or an experienced freelancer is a huge stretch. AI-generated sites are built on templates and algorithms that stick to common, safe design patterns. This makes them look generic. There’s no character. A 2025 study from Gartner found that even with the rise of AI content, brands get much better engagement and conversions from content that has a unique story and bespoke design. A real custom site starts with a deep dive into your market, your competitors, and your specific customers to build a user experience (UX) that works for them, all wrapped in a brand identity that connects on an emotional level. That process takes feedback and iteration, things an AI just can’t do. Say a local bakery in Brooklyn wants a site that feels rustic and artisanal but also modern. An AI will probably just grab some generic “bakery” stock photos and a script font. A human designer understands the neighborhood’s vibe, picks specific textures and colors, and might even hire a photographer to capture the exact feeling of that shop. The difference is in the details and the story.
Myth 4: AI Eliminates the Need for Content Strategy and SEO
People also seem to think that because an AI can write copy and make images, you can fire your content strategist and SEO expert. That’s completely backwards. AI writing tools like Jasper or Copy.ai can churn out grammatically correct text, but they’re just remixing data they’ve already seen. They can stuff keywords into a blog post, but they don’t have the strategic brain to build a content plan that actually supports business goals and speaks to a real person’s needs. A good content strategy means understanding what a customer is thinking at every step, finding what makes your business different, and telling a story that builds trust. An AI can help you draft a product description, but a human strategist has to define the message and make sure the brand’s voice is consistent. It’s the same with SEO. An AI can give you some on-page tips, but a deep knowledge of Google’s algorithm updates, link-building tactics, and the technical side of SEO still requires a human expert. The search algorithms are always changing, and a person can interpret those shifts, adapt the strategy, and run nuanced tests that are way beyond what an automated tool can do. Using only AI for SEO is like punching a destination into a driverless car that has no map. It might get there eventually, but it’ll probably take a long, weird route and get lost a few times.
Myth 5: AI Website Builders Are Only for Tech-Savvy Users
There’s this idea that you need to be a coder or an AI expert to use these new website builders. That’s mostly false. The whole point of platforms like Bookmark is to make website creation easy for people who have zero technical skills. They’re designed for accessibility. You’ll usually go through a simple questionnaire about your business, and the AI generates a site based on your answers. The interfaces are drag-and-drop and don’t require you to look at a single line of code. All the complex AI stuff is happening in the background, hidden behind a clean interface. You don’t need to understand machine learning to get layout suggestions or have the AI write a first draft of your “About Us” page. Honestly, the learning curve for these tools is way shorter than learning a traditional CMS or trying to code a site from scratch. Non-technical users can get a real online presence up and running fast. Does a basic understanding of design and marketing help? Of course. But the barrier to just getting started is lower than it’s ever been. So much of the talk around AI in web development, especially after the Squarespace news, is just sensationalism. The reality is that AI is a seriously powerful tool that’s changing how we work, but it isn’t making human involvement obsolete. Businesses and designers should see AI as a partner. Let it handle the first drafts, the repetitive tasks, and the data analysis. That frees up the humans to focus on what they do best: strategy, creative direction, and building one-of-a-kind digital experiences.
Can AI builders handle a complex e-commerce store?
They can create a basic store with product pages and a checkout, sure. But for complex e-commerce, stores that need custom features, integrations with weird inventory systems, or a finely tuned checkout flow to prevent cart abandonment, you still need human developers and strategists. AI can help draft product descriptions, but the core architecture requires an expert.
How do I make my AI-generated website not look generic?
You have to customize the heck out of it. Use the AI’s output as a starting block, then immediately swap in your own strong branding, high-quality original photos (not stock!), and rewrite the copy until it has a distinct voice. You have to inject your own vision and personality into it.
Will an AI website builder hurt my SEO?
No, not on its own. Most modern AI builders are made with SEO best practices in mind, so the code is clean and they give you basic settings to tweak. The real issue is that good SEO is an ongoing process of content creation, keyword strategy, and link building. You can’t just set it and forget it, and for that, a human-driven strategy is still key for getting strong rankings.
What skills should web designers focus on now?
Designers need to get good at using the AI tools themselves. That means learning prompt engineering (how to give the AI good instructions), but more importantly, it means doubling down on UX/UI strategy, data analysis, brand storytelling, and creative problem-solving. Your value will come from knowing how to direct the AI and when to overrule it to create something better, not from your raw coding ability.
Can AI help with website maintenance after it’s live?
Yes, it can definitely help. AI can monitor your site for performance issues, find broken links, suggest content updates based on what users are doing, and even automate some security checks. It’s a good assistant. But if you need to make a big structural change, overhaul your content, or track down a complex bug, you’re still going to need a person to step in.
