If AI Can Build a Website in Minutes, Why Hire a Web Designer?
You've probably seen the ads promising a full website in just minutes and wondered if hiring a designer is even necessary anymore. So I’ll get right to the biggest answer first: AI can generate a website in minutes. But generating code and having a working, lasting, professional website that brings in customers are two very different things.
To really oversimplify things, websites are generally made in one of two ways: working with custom code, or using a website builder. Whichever route you choose, the website must be built and published, which are two different things. Sometimes they’re handled together, and sometimes they’re not, depending on the method of building.
Here’s what I mean: When you have AI build you a website, it’s giving you the code that you then have to host somewhere. If you don’t know much about hosting or the technical requirements of actually publishing a website online, it’s going to be a difficult road. There are dozens of ways to build a website, each with different tradeoffs. That's exactly why having a designer who knows the landscape is so valuable — you don't have to figure it all out yourself.
The problems you’ll run into
(Jargon incoming! If you aren’t interested in the technical stuff, you can skip this section!)
With AI building your website in a flash, there are some unavoidable downsides to be aware of:
Security Risks — When you're generating code quickly with AI and not carefully reviewing it, there's a good chance it introduces security vulnerabilities. The AI doesn't inherently prioritize secure coding practices, so things like SQL injection, exposed API keys, or improper authentication can slip through unnoticed.
Maintainability — Vibe-coded projects (ie: AI-built websites) tend to accumulate "technical debt," meaning the code works now but can be messy, poorly structured, and hard to update or scale later. Since you're accepting AI output without deeply understanding or organizing it, the codebase can become a tangled mess that's painful to work with down the road. Don’t set yourself up for headaches later on.
Complexity Limits — AI-assisted coding tends to struggle when you need complex system architecture, nuanced domain-specific logic, or large-scale applications with many interconnected parts. At a certain level of complexity, you really need a human who understands the full picture to make sound design decisions.
Instead of trying to handle website code, you can use page builders like Squarespace, which allow you to style and build your site any way you want to, and the development and hosting are already handled internally. No developer needed. No coding. You just pay the subscription and your beautiful new website gets published. Squarespace also has options for more granular customization of your styling and SEO if you have a designer who knows how to inject custom code.
A designer should know how to solve things with and without AI
The next thing to consider is that AI gives you answers, but a web designer knows which questions to frame the project with in the first place — and more importantly, knows when the answers don't add up. AI is a powerful tool, but it works best when someone with experience is steering it. That's a huge part of what a web designer brings to the process: the ability to spot when something technically correct is actually the wrong move for your business.
I experienced this firsthand recently. I was using an AI agent to audit my own website for SEO and AI search. I ran a few different prompts across various pages and was genuinely impressed with what it surfaced — it would have taken me hours to find all of that on my own. But as I reviewed the suggestions, I noticed a pattern. The AI was giving me technically sound advice that, if I'd followed it all, would have made my site feel robotic and overwhelming to an actual visitor. When I pushed back and asked about it, the AI confirmed: those changes would help search bots, but they'd hurt the experience for real people.
This is exactly why working with a designer matters. You shouldn't have to become a web expert to get a website that works — that's our job.
Ultimately, we create for people. In order to serve you well, a good website designer must understand the need for balance between technical precision, aesthetics, consumer psychology, and the brand represented by the site. This balance is what will get your return on investment and make sure your website performs better than the competition who doesn’t know what they’re doing. For now, that’s something AI can’t do in minutes.
If you're ready to stop wrestling with website decisions and start with a strategy that works, let's talk.
Carly Soper Design helps small businesses stand out with strategic brand identities and websites that convert. With over 10 years of design experience, I strategically guide small business owners from "I don't know where to start" to "I'm proud of my brand."
