Implementation of AI in Modern Website Development – Pros and Cons of AI Along with Its Impact on the Future of Web Development

Introduction

With the skyrocketing pace of digital and technological advancement, every little entity of today's world lives and breathes online. Websites have been around us for quite a long time and the term doesn’t surprise us anymore. You may assume there’s nothing left to surprise but fortunately, that’s not the reality! Technology seems to be ever-staggering and keeps introducing an invention which makes us gape in awe. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the latest happenings in the tech world. And now, it’s collaborating with website designing and development to rewrite the history of web development.

The popularity of AI seems to be rapidly increasing over the past few years. The proof can be found on the forums and thousands of articles based on AI. Personalization, on the other hand, has also been a major topic these days. Managing websites, dealing with the business, and keeping the work-life balance smoothly running has never been easy.

AI has proven itself to be immensely efficient in various industries and improved those industries in terms of efficiency, functionality, and personalization. Thus, one question remains from the web design perspective - what impact can AI have on the future of website designing? Will AI be able to resolve the personalization issue which has been a problem with the web designers?

Rise of AI as a Virtual Assistant

You may not feel but AI, in the meantime, has blended into almost every aspect of our daily life. From the virtual assistants to the Chatbots, life never seemed so easier. You may ask for Google’s help in almost every query and Google’s RankBrain is also an AI that provides you the most relevant search results according to your queries.

The friendly neighbors like Cortana and Siri help users make a query and execute a task via voice on the internet. Also, I am a big fan of their capability of performing simple yet important daily tasks such as setting alarm, making a call, sending a message, or playing a music on mobile devices. Home Assistants like Amazon Echo or Google Home makes it more than simple for users to manage the appliances in their house.

Slowly but steadily AI is becoming one of our prime daily requirements.

Top 4 Website Builders That Are Utilizing AI in Web Design

We, at Intlum, make extensive research on the latest happenings in technology and AI is the next big thing we are going to bat for. Individuals may still think it’s all about human resource and expertise when it comes to web designing. But the consideration may not be completely correct! Human coding and designing are there but AI is also being employed in a large amount in the website design and development. Some of the most popular platforms have taken AI into action with the purpose of simplifying the process of website construction. Here are the four biggest examples you can find on the internet.

TheGrid

TheGrid is available on the internet to make your idea into imagination without much of your involvement. This website builder is an AI-powered website designer that does all the hard works on behalf of a website owner. I have seen people building their website on TheGrid just by providing some instruction to the AI incorporated into the website.

TheGrid’s AI, Molly, asks for the theme preference and contents from the users who want their websites developed. After accumulating the information, Molly optimizes, arranges, and designs the website according to the data. Moreover, Molly also decides the website’s layout and color scheme.

Not very long ago, website builder (with artificial intelligence) was a dream and an individual’s knowledge about coding was a necessity in order to create a website. TheGrid and the other likewise website builders have put an end to this hassle. However, you will still need to code for beautifying and optimizing the website which is still not achieved by the AI.

Wix ADI

Wix has become one of the most popular solutions for the people who don’t have enough technical expertise yet want to develop a stunning website on their own. Just like TheGrid, Wix also shares the same goal of simplifying the website development by omitting the technicalities and coding requirements. I have used Wix to create a website and undoubtedly, the platform can be labeled as one of the simplest sources to build a website.

I’m sharing my own experience of creating a website with Wix ADI (the Wix AI assistant). All I had to do is placing my preference for website and information such as the website title, email ID, phone number, and address. Promptly, the Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) formatted and designed the whole website for me. I just did a few simple and quick editing.

However, some people still feel the lack of creativity in this AI-powered automated website development. Yes, I have to accept it seems machined but that is the scope for improvement. That’s what the future of website designing and development holds!

Firedrop

Firedrop is an AI-powered website builder that also has machine learning incorporated. Firedrop’s AI assistant and the virtual brain is called Sacha who designs and develops the websites according to the users’ requirements. Her abilities are featured as developing websites without coding and drag and drop.

The difference of Sacha from TheGrid’s Molly and Wix ADI is Sacha does not develop the website on behalf of you. Rather the AI appears as a chatbot and helps you build your own website. Sacha offers suggestions for the website development based on the users’ preferences. The Firedrop’s AI interacts with the users and questions them to know about their preferences which comes handy while building a website.

Now, similar to Molly and Wix ADI, Sacha also requires human input to bring the website into life.

Adobe Sensei

Adobe Sensei is an AI and machine learning framework which also powers the other Adobe tools. Among the Adobe tools, Adobe Sensei provides the users with further options to work on their files and manage them. Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud and Photoshop Fix are the examples of such management systems with AI and Machine Learning.

Face-Aware Liquify can be a viable functionality to portray Adobe Sensei’s capability. The AI’s face recognition option can help users select and edit the facial features of a picture for further facial improvements and image enhancement. In addition, Adobe Sensei is also equipped to increase the Selfie quality by integrating effects. Adobe Sensei enables users to make use of the Adobe tools more effectively and competently.

Pros and Cons of AI in Web Design

With a certain technology, comes its pros and cons. I am going to portray the benefits and drawbacks of AI which will help you understand the impact of AI in a better manner. Every web development company as well as the business owners should be aware of the pros and cons of the AI in order to utilize the technology in the best way possible.

Pros

Here come the pros of AI that carry a whole new window of possibilities in the future of web design.

User Experience

User experience has always been a defining factor in web design. AI is able to enhance the user experience by a vast margin. The website users are important assets for any business since they are the potential clients. Studies have described that 79% of the average online users switch to other sites to find a product if the product is not easily found on a website. Here, AI comes handy and interact with the website visitors to keep them engaged on your website. AI can also help them find their product which enriches the user experience.

Personalized Contents

I am a big fan of this particular advantage of AI. Since I stream videos on YouTube and Netflix quite frequently, I love their approach of recommending videos based on my past behaviors. The recommendations offer me a wide range of choices and I watch those videos as they are similar to the videos I watched before. You can do the same thing on your site by employing an AI which will recommend products or services to the users and bring your valuable contents under the spotlight. Users love to be recommended and the recommendation from the AI assistant of your website can single-handedly increase your website’s usability among users.

Voice Search Optimization

Voice search optimization is one of the fastest growing technologies and trends these days. Considering the fact that mobile devices are more accessible than the desktops or laptops, searching via voice has also been amplified. According to a study, approximately 40% of the total adult mobile users make use of the voice search once in a day. The research says, 50% of all searches will be made via voice by the year 2020! Thus, implementing an AI bot in a website can give the website users the leverage to search contents by the voice which is relatively less time-consuming and easy to do.

Cons

Now, let’s take a tour of the assumed drawbacks of AI in website designing and development.

A Threat to Humans!

Several studies keep popping up about smart machines taking over the job of humans in the future. Some studies even stated that 90% of all the jobs will be acquired by the machines by 2030. Since AI has proven itself to be efficient in almost every place it has been implemented before, experts are foreseeing this technology to code instead of humans in near future!

Privacy Issues

In view of the fact that AI and machine learning can be built to monitor the user behavior and online interaction, it often becomes a matter of concern for some users. Imagine a software like Google Analytics collaborating with powerful AI technology! It’s unimaginable how greater potential it may build up to mine the data and insights of the online users.

Inhuman Interactions

Use of chatbots has reached the limit of the sky. The AI technology behind the chatbots interacts with the website visitors regarding queries, consultation, and offers. While it’s a great gesture for the reception of the incoming visitors, the replies often reflect the machinery approach. Regardless of how well the chatbot is created, visitors will always distinguish it from the human interactions. Since many users still want a human touch in the interactions, the chatbots may be regarded as a drawback!

AI – Friend or Foe?

Let me clear the buzz that AI can never replace humans. Artificial Intelligence is a technology which has a tech brain. A human intelligence is always required make the tech brain work. The teaching and training seem to be always required for AI. Hence, AI can be considered as a catalyst for a chemical reaction.

On the other hand, when the data breaching or security is concerned, I believe, if the users choose a reputed organization or service provider, there would not be any misuse of data. A reputed and trustworthy organization will never play with its reputation and goodwill. So, you can be assured of your data security.

The bottom line is AI can be web designers’ best friend when it comes to fastening the process of the website creation. While AI will be dealing with the basic development matters, the designers will be able to deal with the more complex issues which can only be done by the human intelligence.

Change that AI Offers in Web Designing Industry in Future

Future is unknown to all but that certainly does not mean that all the technologies and breakthroughs we see in different industries are threats to humans. Technology is always a blessing and AI’s superior usability has been a wonder and should always be used further to enhance the efficiency of work.

Loads of improvements have been offered by AI in numerous industries all across the globe. In the web design and development field, designers can be immensely benefitted by the diverse use of AI. Following are the benefits (I feel) AI’s functionality can offer the designers.

• Designers can skip the tedious tasks and get rid of creating a website from scratch.
• AI can make websites more personalized to the users by analyzing the user preference, behavior, and content.
• Both professional and amateur designers will get assistance from AI.
• AIs will help an average person manage his or her own website without much know-how and expertise.

Conclusion

According to Charles Darwin, survival for existence is the thing that matters. In order to survive in the world of the internet and website design, you must have to learn how to adapt and change with time and technology. AI is one of the most innovative inventions of humankind and it’s certainly going to do wonders in the future! Every top company is eyeing on the technology to use it for betterment and benefits. If I quote Sundar Pichai (CEO, Google), "AI is one of the most important things humanity is working on. It is more profound than, I dunno, electricity or fire,". So, make sure that you are also using Artificial Intelligence for your further benefits.