As businesses rush to adopt AI in every corner of their operations, building websites with AI tools is quickly becoming the next big shortcut. With growing pressure from senior leadership to “move faster” and “cut development costs,” many teams are turning to generative AI to spin up web pages with a few prompts.
But according to Ryan Hale, a developer at digital studio Elcap, that speed comes at a cost — and for most organisations, it’s not worth it.
Hale says AI-generated websites can work in a few very limited cases, but for anything meant to last, scale or handle sensitive data, they’re more likely to create problems than solve them.
Here are six of the biggest issues he sees with AI-built sites — and the rare cases where it might still be worth using.
🟢 When AI websites do make sense
Hale isn’t against AI — in fact, he’s used it himself in early-stage projects. He just thinks its limitations are being badly misunderstood.
“If you’re a total beginner and just need something simple to show people — like a digital business card — AI is fine,” Hale says. “It’s also useful for quick wireframes or prototypes. If you just want to visualise a rough idea before building properly, it can save time.”
So if your goal is speed, not polish, and your expectations are low, AI might actually help
🔴 But here’s where it falls apart
For anything beyond a quick mock-up or personal test site, Hale says the risks start to stack up fast — especially if you’re not a developer yourself.
1. You don’t know what it’s made of
“People have no idea what the AI has generated,” Hale says. “They don’t understand the code, so if something breaks, they can’t fix it — and neither can the AI, because it’s the one that broke it.”
Even small bugs can become blockers when there’s no one who understands how the site works.
2. It probably won’t work on mobile
AI tools often create single-layout sites optimised for desktop — which is a big problem in a mobile-first world.
“They’re not responsive,” Hale says. “You’ll often get something that looks fine on a laptop but is completely broken on a phone.”
3. Security and compliance are usually missing
Legal and data obligations are rarely considered in AI-generated sites.
“There’s nothing built in for GDPR, for example,” says Hale. “You don’t know how it’s handling data or cookies. That can become a serious issue.”
If your site handles form submissions, cookies or user data — even something as basic as a contact form — this can open you up to risks.
4. It uses outdated practices
AI often relies on training data that’s out of date — which means it can generate code that’s technically valid, but inefficient or insecure.
“You can end up with bloated or inefficient code, or stuff that just isn’t done anymore,” Hale says. “It looks okay, but it’s built badly under the hood.”
5. No hosting, no domain, no guidance
AI might give you a page, but it won’t walk you through what to do with it.
“They either overspend, or buy the wrong thing, or they don’t know how to link it to their site,” Hale says. “The AI just gives you files — that’s it.”
That leaves many users lost or reliant on generic tutorials that don’t match their setup.
6. You’re on your own when things break
Unlike established tools and platforms, AI-generated code doesn’t come with documentation, support forums or update paths.
“If you hand a developer a broken AI-built site, it’s often faster to rebuild it from scratch than try to fix what’s there,” Hale says.
That means short-term speed often leads to long-term waste.
⚖️ The verdict
AI tools make it feel like web development has been solved. But as Hale puts it:
“They give people a false sense of progress.”
You may feel like you’ve built a real website, but in reality, you’ve created something fragile, hard to maintain, and potentially non-compliant.
“Use AI for mock-ups, maybe even for simple one-pagers,” Hale advises. “But don’t launch a real business site this way — especially not one that handles data, payments, or needs to rank on Google.”
The bottom line? AI can be a helpful assistant — but for now, it’s no replacement for real, thoughtful web development.
