Use AI to Build and Improve Your Website

Even seasoned teams miss how far embedded AI has come in modern web stacks.

AI can significantly reduce the time it takes to launch a professional website, though it’s not perfect.

I just redid my Peripety Labs website. It’s still a work in progress but it incorporated a much-needed up date. I managed to do it in a relatively short amount of time.

Also, it was not an AI miracle, even though I’m very accustomed to using AI, it was more of a human orchestration using AI to help.

That mix—AI for speed, humans for taste and reliability—is the formula.

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Speed up content, design, and QA—but keep a human in the loop for polish.

Let's address the elephant in the room: AI won't build your entire website from a single prompt. Well, at least not a complicated one.

I've tested dozens of "AI website builders," and while they excel at specific tasks, the dream of typing "build me a SaaS website" and receiving production-ready code remains just that—a dream.

Perhaps someday we'll have fully autonomous web development, but for now, staying actively involved in your website creation and editing isn't just important—it's essential. The sites that stand out are those where human judgment guides AI efficiency.

What does work? AI for acceleration, humans for judgment. Think of AI as your tireless junior developer who never sleeps but needs constant supervision. This combination transforms overwhelming projects into manageable workflows:

You can start on almost any platform and most of these tips are going to be helpful. For my purposes though I went with 10Web.io because they have a lot of AI integrated into the platform including their platform specific AI Builder. I also used a theme that included Elementor support to include AI right in a WordPress integrated development environment.

The Approach: Create a dedicated project in ChatGPT or Claude and upload your brand guidelines, existing content, competitor analyses, and target audience research. This context enables consistent, on-brand copy generation.

Practical Implementation Here’s a simple approach to prompting to get your website started on its way with AI.

What once required days of copywriting iterations now happens in hours. You generate multiple versions quickly, combine the best elements, and apply human polish for final refinement.

One of my biggest discoveries was using AI to create custom images that perfectly match the website's look, feel, and style. This proved far more effective than the traditional hunt through stock photo libraries.

The Image Generation Workflow:

Example Prompt for Consistent Style:

Here’s an example you could use in ChatGPT from a style standpoint.

Why This Beats Stock Photography:

The result? A website that looks intentionally designed rather than assembled from disparate stock elements.

You can also use the current leading model, Nano Banana, for high-quality custom images.

Skip the expensive design tools for initial concepts. Use ChatGPT with specific parameters:

This approach generates functional prototypes almost instantly, providing designers with concrete starting points rather than abstract requirements. Tools like Uizard and Framer AI can take this even further with visual interfaces.

For rapid landing page creation, tools like Bolt.new and Base44 offer an interesting middle ground. You can essentially "vibe code" a website—describe what you want in natural language and watch it materialize in real-time.

When to Use Vibe Coding Tools:

When NOT to Use Them:

These tools excel at getting you from zero to published in minutes, but they're not replacements for sophisticated web development. Think of them as your rapid prototyping playground where you can test ideas before committing to full development.

The game-changer isn't running individual audits—it's orchestrating multiple tools through AI to create actionable improvement plans.

Pro Tip: Use ChatGPT's Agent Mode to actually run these non-AI tools directly from their automated interface. Instead of manually visiting each tool, ChatGPT can navigate to PageSpeed Insights, WAVE, and other analysis tools, run the tests for you, and consolidate the results—all in a single conversation thread.

The Multi-Tool Audit Stack:

AI can generate layouts and images, but it can't feel the subtle rhythm of white space or understand why your brand needs that specific shade of blue. The final layer of design—the part that elevates good to exceptional—requires human taste.

Authentication flows, payment processing, multi-step forms with conditional logic—these require understanding edge cases and security implications that AI consistently struggles with.

AI can tell you that your bounce rate is 65%. It can't tell you whether that's because of poor messaging, wrong audience targeting, or technical issues—that requires human analysis and business context.

Before adding new tools, maximize what's already in your stack:

Rather than manually implementing performance fixes, use platform-specific AI:

I did launch my new website but it’s not perfect. But it was good enough to launch and soon should be much better thanks to my AI auditing process.

Here’s my battle-tested audit prompt that consolidates multiple tools into one actionable report. Use this with ChatGPT's Agent Mode for maximum automation. The AI is fast, but it’s the human-in-the-loop, me that’s the bottleneck to enact some of the finer points from the audit.

Here’s a breakdown on tools you might want to use for this task, some are not AI tools per se but they can be called from agentic workflows in ChatGPT or other platforms like Manus.im.

Here are my takeaways from how I got my site up and running, and how I intend to make it better.

The next evolution of web development isn't about revolutionary AI tools that replace developers. It's about evolutionary integration where AI handles the repetitive, time-consuming tasks while humans focus on strategy, creativity, and quality assurance.

My Peripety Labs rebuild proved this approach works: dramatically reduced development friction, significantly improved performance metrics, and a final product that looks intentionally designed rather than AI-generated. The custom AI-generated imagery alone transformed the site from "another template" to a unique digital presence. The tools are already in your stack. The frameworks are proven. The only question is whether you'll start using them today or watch competitors gain the advantage tomorrow.

While we're moving toward more automated web development, we're not there yet—and that's actually a good thing. The websites that truly connect with users are those where human insight shapes AI output. Your active involvement in the creation and editing process isn't a limitation; it's your competitive advantage.

Remember: AI is your assistant, not your replacement. Use it to eliminate friction, not judgment. Speed up execution, not decision-making. When you find that balance, you don't just build websites faster—you build them better.

I appreciate your support.