Could AI steal web developer jobs? Probably not, here’s why

Should website building professionals be worried about AI?

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Whether you’re a web developer, a no-code enthusiast, or a business owner looking to build their own website — you’re probably no stranger to all the rumors and theories that have been going around on social media and across different outlets.

Thebest AI website buildershave been a real breakthrough for web design. Within minutes, they can generate professionally-designed website layouts, complete with content and images, that you can publish at the click of a button.

But could an AI, once it’s sufficiently advanced, start taking away jobs from human developers? Let’s unpack this, shall we?

How does an AI website builder actually work?

AI website builders rely on technologies like generative AI,machine learning(ML), and natural language processing (NLP) to create automatically generated website designs — complete with all the necessary code, content, and images — based on specific user input.

But how do they really work? Understanding that is key to answering our bigger question, so here’s a detailed breakdown:

As you can see, AI platforms can automate a lot of the unnecessarily complicated tasks associated with building and deploying a website — things that would usually waste a qualified web developer’s time without adding anything new to the project.

Current limitations of AI website builders

AI website building platformsoften rely on pre-designed templates and algorithms, which limit their ability to innovate into truly user-centric designs. Since they’re heavily dependent on existing datasets, it’s hard for them to bring anything radically new to the mix. They also lack nuance, making them unsuitable for generating web applications that require complex functionality or rely on extensive data integrations. Here’s a detailed overview of the current limitations of AI website builders:

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Lack of creativity

AI platforms can generate aesthetically pleasing and functional websites, but they don’t have the ability to create innovative designs without extensive directions.

Without a human developer at the helm of the project, AI tools will churn out repetitive designs over and over. While this could work for basic websites built on a limited budget, anything truly ambitious would require human supervision.

Customization limits

Even when they come equipped with powerful no-code editors and third-party app ecosystems, AI platforms fail to replicate the creative freedom and functional flexibility of simply coding a website from scratch.

Advanced functionalities, like creating complex integrations to support multi-layered user flows, will still require custom code, making the presence of a human developer crucial.

Technical issues

AI platforms rely on vast amounts of data that has been pre-fed to them. But without good quality datasets to rely on, AI will often falter when asked to design something truly complex. This results in errors, glitches, and bugs that require professional developers to troubleshoot.

Another issue with AI platforms is that while the code they generate does work, it’s often bloated, unclean, and poorly optimized. This makes websites slow to load and more challenging to troubleshoot in the future.

Security and compliance

AI website builders may not prioritize security to the same extent as human developers. This can result in vulnerabilities that could be exploited by cyber attackers. It’s a serious concern especially when you rely on AI models to write custom code, which is prone to vulnerabilities.

AI website builders also rely heavily on user data to refine their products, but the way they collect and use data from different websites isn’t always properly disclosed. This could also lead to potential compliance issues down the line.

Vendor lock-in

Most of thebest website buildersoperate within proprietary ecosystems, which can create issues with portability and vendor lock-in. Transferring a website built with an AI tool to another platform can be especially challenging, often requiring you to clone the website entirely from scratch using the new platform.

This can be a huge issue as specific vendors go out of business or make unexpected changes to their model over time.

Why websites need professional developers

According to theU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of web developers and digital designers is projected to grow 16% from 2022 to 2032, much faster than the average for all other occupations.

AI website builders and other DIY tools may have made it easier for non-developers to build functional websites, but they often fall short in delivering the level of customization, performance, and security that professional web developers can provide. They also lack the ability to understand nuance through client communications or create something truly unique to meet specific client needs.

To summarize: We don’t think that AI website builders are going to replace serious web developer jobs anytime soon. But the entry of powerful AI platforms has definitely accelerated the need for developers to upskill into more complex projects, since it is possible that the demand for developers to work on entry-level projects will be quite reduced in the near future.

Ritoban Mukherjee is a freelance tech and innovations journalist from West Bengal, India. His work focuses on reviews, guides, and features about consumer and business software, such as AI website builders and CRM platforms, among other things. He has been published on Tom’s Guide, TechRadar, Creative Bloq, IT Pro Portal, Gizmodo, Medium, Quartz, and Mental Floss.

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