Can AI Build Your Website? (And Should It?)

By John Torres, Media Genesis Director of Operations & AI Strategist

I get this question all the time: “Why can’t we just have AI make the website?” Usually, it’s at a conference where every corner is buzzing about AI, from animated hallway conversations to the latest keynote speeches. There have been multiple talks, and the excitement of rapid progress seems to overshadow thoughtful discussion or critical analysis—momentum feels more valuable than nuance in these moments.

I’m not against AI. I’m for results. At Media Genesis, we use AI the way a good shop uses power tools: to move faster, explore options, and clear repetitive tasks. But the work that protects your brand, serves your users, and stands up under traffic, audits, and time? Well, that still needs experienced people (humans) at the controls.

Why This Keeps Coming Up

When someone says “AI built our site,” they usually mean a stack of helpers: a prompt-based builder that assembles pages, a CMS that suggests copy, an image generator for hero art, and maybe a copilot that scaffolds React components. These tools can draft a sitemap, fill in sample text, and get a clickable first pass in minutes. That speed is real and useful. The hidden gap is between “a page you can click” and “a website you can trust.” Closing that gap with strategy, accessibility, performance, security, and governance is where teams like ours earn our keep. It’s not just about building quickly, but about building wisely so the foundation supports both your ambitions and your obligations well into the future.

Quick Take-Aways for AI Use in General (for the skimmers):

• AI is great for first drafts, variations, internal prototypes, and bulk suggestions (alt text, meta, schema), and it can quickly spark fresh design ideas or help audit and benchmark your site against competitors.
• Humans are essential for brand voice, information architecture, accessibility, performance, security, and analytics/consent governance. It’s crucial to have humans involved for UI/UX decisions and to ensure your website reflects current trends and best practices in web development.
• Regulated data, integrations, multilingual, or strict targets? This is a key situation where AI and human-centric strategy is strongly recommended.

Instead of focusing only on how fast you can spin up a website, consider the total cost and effort needed over the next two to three years: ongoing content management, accessibility reviews, setting and maintaining performance standards, tracking analytics, hosting expenses, and regular updates and security patches. These long-term demands matter just as much as the initial build.

What AI Actually Gives You

AI gives momentum. It breaks the blank page, proposes directions so your team can react, and outputs decent placeholders for metadata and alt text. It can generate component scaffolds and test shells that developers harden later. It is also fantastic for internal demos helping leaders react better to something they can click than a PDF or a Word document. Used this way, AI reduces misalignment and rework. If the site is a straightforward brochure with no sensitive data or complex functionality or integrations, AI can carry a healthy share of the early lift while a human team edits for clarity and accessibility. When you blend automation with expert oversight, the result is a website that delivers speed without sacrificing quality.

Where AI Drops The Ball

Details decide outcomes. That’s where AI tends to drift. Tone slides into bland generalities. The site structure flattens into look-alike sections that don’t reflect real user journeys. Accessibility basics—focus order, semantic headings, color contrast, link purpose—get missed. Performance suffers under large scripts and oversized images which can cause web pages to lag and become less responsive, reducing the likelihood that visitors will make purchases or register. Privacy risks creep in when prompts include client data (whoops). Plugin sprawl expands your attack surface and slows updates. Governance fades if nobody documents standards, workflows, or performance budgets.

None of this is theoretical; these are the cleanups we’re hired to do after “AI-first” launches wobble. In the end, what separates a site that endures from one that unravels is deliberate forethought. Planning beyond the website launch, anticipating challenges before they surface, and investing early in decisions that pay dividends long after the initial build. Forethought is the groundwork for trust and resilience.

Tell-tale Trouble Signs:

• The copy says everything and nothing; users still ask basic questions.
• Keyboard users get trapped in a modal; screen reader users are lost in heading soup.
• Large JavaScript files slow down the website and reduce responsiveness.
• A dozen plugins do what one well-designed component system should.
• Zero consistency in imagery, tone, and structure.

The Hybrid Model That Actually Works

My philosophy mirrors how I write about accessibility: plain English, real users first, compliance as a floor.

The flow looks like this:

We start with strategy and information architecture so we’re clear on audiences, jobs-to-be-done, and the content model. We use AI to explore design directions, then finalize needs, components, and states with accessibility in direct consideration. We let AI produce content drafts, then humans’ fact-check, simplify language, and tune the voice. We let AI generate tests and components, then developers harden code, optimize assets, and enforce Core Web Vitals budgets. We close with human QA: accessibility audits, security reviews, analytics and consent validation, real-world testing in collaboration with our clients.

This process helps make sure everything goes smoothly and avoids expensive changes down the road. This proactive approach enables businesses to adapt quickly and minimize risks associated with digital transformation.

What Stays Human-led (Non-negotiable):

• Audience strategy, Information Architecture (IA), and content structure
• Design system decisions (states, motion, contrast)
• Editorial standards and final voice and tone
• Performance, security, SEO, accessibility, and analytics/consent governance

Cost, Time, And The Real Bill You Pay

AI shortens the early cycles and cuts wasted back-and-forth. That’s worth money. But the cost that matters is the one you pay over 24–36 months: content operations, accessibility testing and fixes, performance maintenance, analytics and consent, hosting, patches, and training. Skip these and you don’t save—you defer—and the interest is paid in lost traffic, poor conversions, and possible legal exposure.

Match the use of the tool to the level of risk involved. For tasks with lower stakes, artificial intelligence can take on a greater role, while for higher-stakes situations, human experts should maintain control, using AI primarily for drafting rather than decision-making.

Ground Rules With AI:

• Use AI to compress discovery and drafting, not to skip IA or QA.
• Budget website performance like you budget dollars; bytes are costs.
• Treat prompts as data flows; redact and restrict by default. (Yes, privacy matters here!)
• Keep dependencies lean; fewer plugins, fewer surprises.
• Document standards so governance survives staff changes. Know what you did and why it was done.

How Media Genesis Uses AI

We use AI to outline pages, suggest ALT text, generate test data, scaffold components, and build QA checklists. We do not ship unreviewed AI outputs. Real people approve words. Designers read through design directions. Developers work through code iteration. We set performance budgets, run automated and manual tests, and handle analytics and consent with care. These are the essential requirements for our team, which define our working environment. This is what every business should expect.

Let’s Build This Right

If you want a site that’s on-brand, fast, findable (SEO friendly), accessible, and secure, we’ll bring the right mix of AI acceleration and expert oversight. Tell us what success looks like—lead flow, donations, conversions, compliance—and we’ll chart a path that matches your risk, budget, and timeline.

Whether you require a streamlined brochure website or a sophisticated, integrated platform, Media Genesis provides comprehensive support to ensure a successful launch and ongoing enhancements beyond the initial deployment. We’ll use AI where it accelerates, and people where it matters most.