There's a Facebook ad doing the rounds right now...

It says "I asked Claude.ai to build my website & it did it in minutes".

OOOF. A big old bold claim indeed, so as a die-hard WordPress + Divi 5 advocate, I did some digging for you campers...

I get the hype for sure because it sounds like a magic wand for websites.

Howeverrrr!! If you're running a busy business with moving parts, things that need changing fast, and content that must be kept secure...there are a few things worth knowing before you decide to go all in on a shiny new website built by an AI chatbot.

It's built all in code. There's no dashboard.

Here's the bit the adverts skip past. When an AI platform "builds" your website, it writes raw code: HTML, CSS, JavaScript. There's no safe cosy WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) visual editor. No WordPress-style dashboard where you log in and update your page in five minutes.

Want to change something after launch? Aarrrgghh!! You have to go back into AI and type out exactly what you want changed, in words. It edits the code behind the scenes and republishes the site. If you're not comfortable doing that, or if the change is even slightly complicated, you're gonna get STUCK.

Compare that to a WordPress-hosted Divi 5 site. You login to your WordPress Dashboard, find the page to edit and simply click on the text you want to change, type the new words, hit save. No prompting required. No code involved. That's the whole point of a proper Content Management System: you have control at your fingertips.

Security is not a feature

With WordPress, security is built into the ecosystem. Plugins like Wordfence and Sucuri watch your site round the clock. Core updates patch known vulnerabilities automatically. There's a whole industry built around keeping WordPress sites safe.

AI-built sites don't come with any of that. Nothing is watching your site while you sleep. If a vulnerability turns up in the framework the AI used to build your site, nothing patches it for you.

Someone has to notice, then go back and fix it manually, assuming they even know how.

For a business owner without a technical background, that's a genuinely risky gap.

"AI built it" does not mean "AI is protecting it."

The problems nobody mentions in the adverts

Talk to developers who've actually tested these tools and a pattern emerges fast.

The code gets messy, quickly. AI-generated sites often lean on inline styling instead of proper CSS, skip semantic HTML, and miss basic SEO groundwork like meta tags and schema markup. Using AI is fine for a rough mock-up or even what we call a "wireframe" - which is a draft layout. A fully AI-designed website is not what you want to either represent your business or have to manage full-time. It will soon turn into a blummin time drain. Ugh.

Small changes become big headaches. One developer described a client who wanted to move a single toggle element on a pricing page. It took the entire afternoon, because the AI had quietly "built" that toggle into three other parts of the site. Nobody, including the AI, could explain why.

Nobody actually understands how the site works. Once a human makes manual changes to AI-generated code, the AI can lose the ability to edit it properly. You end up with a site that's held together by a block of indecipherable code that's the digital equivalent of brown paper and blu-tak!

SEO will be impacted. Fully AI-generated sites often lack the structure, documentation, and demonstrated expertise Google looks for. That makes it harder to rank, especially against competitors with properly built, well-maintained sites. And again, WordPress has a great choice of SEO plugins like Yoast, RankMath or All-In-One that make it easier for owner/users.

The cheap upfront cost isn't the real cost. AI builders look affordable at first glance. But slower load times, poor SEO, scary security issues all add up to an inevitable rebuild when the site outgrows what the AI can manage.

So is your friendly website designer Trace at SuperDivine becoming redundant?

Nope nope and thrice NOPE!

What's changing is what people expect a website designer to actually do.

AI tools are genuinely great for one thing: getting a rough idea in front of you fast.

Corralling your thoughts into a coherent flow.

That's what I use my mate Claudie for. She's my Editor & worst critic haha, but she helps me wrangle the words that I have wafting around in this 59 year old brain, and plonks them down into something you can read.

Right then, what CAN Claude.ai be useful for with websites? Because it's not all bad to be fair...

If you're a freelancer and need a one-page brochure "advert" as such, with no ongoing needs, and a teeny tiny budget?

Yes, AI can knock that out in an afternoon.

But a meatier business needs more than that.

It needs a website:

• That the business owner (or team) can actually update, without learning to code
• That stays secure without constant manual babysitting
• That is built to rank, convert, and grow with the business
• That doesn't turn into an absolute Shit Fest the first time something needs changing

That's exactly what a Divi 5 build gives you. A visual editor you or your team can use. A secure platform built for long-term stability, not a one-off AI prompt. When you work with a real person, they understand the full picture: your brand, your voice, your goals, and how to give you the website of your dreams, AND continually converts into real business...THAT's why you invest in a web designer.

AI is a tool. A good one. I'm a user but for writing and idea wrangling only. I cannot stand those AI-generated "airbrushed Disney-esque" social media images. They ALL look the same. They shoehorn every bit of content into ONE image - doesn't anyone remember the beauty of white space?

To sum up, a tool still needs someone who knows how to use it properly, and knows what to do when it falls short.

That's where a proper web designer comes in, now more than ever.

With love, techie vibes and ginger nuts,
Trace x

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Thinking about a website that actually works for your business?

Drop me an email: tracy@superdivine.co.uk or book a free consult