There's a conversation happening in the web development world right now, and most developers are either ignoring it or pretending it doesn't apply to them. It's about AI. Specifically, about whether developers are using it in their work.
I'll make this simple: I use AI tools in my development process. I use them regularly. And I'm telling you about it because I think you deserve to know exactly how your website gets built.
The Carpenter and the Power Saw
I use AI the same way a carpenter uses a power saw. The saw doesn't design your house. It doesn't know where the walls should go. It doesn't understand that your family needs a bigger kitchen or that you want the living room to face west for the evening light. But it cuts wood faster and more precisely than a hand saw.
That's AI in web development. It's a tool. A very good tool. But it's still just a tool, and tools don't make decisions. People do.
When I sit down to build a website for a business here in Sedalia, AI doesn't tell me what that business needs. It doesn't know that your customers are mostly mobile users, or that your biggest competitor just redesigned their site, or that you need your phone number front and center because most of your leads come from calls, not forms. I know that because I sat across from you at a coffee shop and listened.
What AI Actually Helps Me Do
Let me be specific, because vague claims don't help anyone.
- Writing boilerplate code faster. Every website needs certain foundational code. Navigation menus, contact forms, responsive layouts, security headers. This is structural code that follows established patterns. AI helps me generate it quickly so I can spend more time on the parts that make your site unique.
- Debugging. When something breaks (and things always break during development), AI can help me spot the issue faster. Instead of spending an hour hunting for a misplaced bracket or a logic error, I can often find and fix it in minutes.
- Generating initial content drafts. If you need placeholder text or a starting point for your service descriptions, AI can create a first draft that I then rewrite to sound like you, not like a robot.
- Research and testing ideas. When I'm evaluating different approaches to solve a problem, AI helps me think through options faster. Should this form use AJAX or a traditional submit? What's the best way to handle image optimization for your gallery? I can explore solutions more quickly.
- Catching accessibility issues. AI can help review code for things like missing alt text, poor contrast ratios, or incorrect heading hierarchy. These details matter for real people using your site.
None of that replaces the actual work of understanding your business and building something tailored to it. It just means the repetitive parts go faster.
What AI Cannot Do
This is the part that matters most. Here's what no AI tool on the planet can do for your project.
- Understand your business. AI doesn't know that you've been in Sedalia for 15 years, that your reputation is built on word of mouth, or that your customers care more about reliability than flashy marketing. That context comes from a real conversation.
- Meet you at a coffee shop. I've sat down with every client I've worked with. Face to face, in person, right here locally. That's where I learn what you actually need (not what a template assumes you need).
- Design something that fits YOUR brand. AI can generate generic designs all day long. But a design that reflects who you are, what your customers expect, and how you want to be perceived? That takes a human who understands the context.
- Maintain a relationship. After your site goes live, you need someone you can call when something breaks, when you want to update your services, when Google changes something. That's not a chatbot. That's me.
- Answer the phone when something breaks. At 9 PM on a Tuesday when your contact form stops working, you're not going to ask an AI for help. You're going to call me, and I'm going to fix it.
- Know that Sedalia has different needs than Kansas City. A local business in a town of 21,000 people has completely different challenges than a business in a metro area. The strategy is different. The audience is different. The budget is different. AI doesn't understand any of that.
Why I'm Telling You This
Plenty of developers use AI in their work right now. Most of them don't mention it. Some actively hide it. I understand why. There's a stigma, a fear that clients will think, "Well, if AI did the work, why am I paying you?"
I'm telling you because honesty is how I do business. It's that simple. I don't hide my process, I don't oversell my abilities, and I don't pretend I hand-type every single character of code from scratch. If you work with me, you get transparency. Always.
And honestly, the developers who aren't talking about AI? They're probably using it too. The difference is, I respect you enough to be upfront about it.
"If AI Can Build Websites, Why Do I Need You?"
Fair question. Let me answer it directly.
Yes, AI can generate a website. You can go to any number of AI website builders right now and have something that looks like a website in 60 seconds. It will have stock photos, generic copy about "leveraging synergies" and "innovative solutions," and a layout that looks exactly like ten thousand other sites.
It will also have no idea who your customers are, no local SEO strategy, no understanding of your competitive landscape, and no one standing behind it when things go wrong.
AI builds generic. I build specific. Specific to your business, your market, your goals, your budget. The human part of web development (the listening, the strategy, the design decisions, the ongoing support) is the hard part. It's also the part that makes the difference between a website that sits there and a website that actually works for you.
What This Means for Your Wallet
Here's the part most people actually care about. Because AI helps me work more efficiently, I can offer more value at a lower price. The time I save on repetitive coding tasks is time I can spend on making your site better, or time I can pass back to you as cost savings.
A project that might have taken 60 hours five years ago might take 40 now. That's not because the quality dropped. It's because the tools got better. Just like construction got faster when power tools replaced hand tools. The houses didn't get worse. They got built more efficiently.
For a small business watching every dollar, that efficiency matters. You get a better product, delivered faster, at a price that makes sense for a local business budget.
Good Stewardship
I believe in using every tool available to serve people well. If a tool helps me deliver better work for the people who trust me with their business, I'd be foolish not to use it. Refusing to use effective tools out of pride or stubbornness doesn't serve anyone.
My job is to build the best website I can for your business, at a price you can afford, and to stand behind it. If AI helps me do that, then AI is part of my toolkit. Right alongside my code editor, my design skills, and my understanding of what small businesses in Sedalia actually need.
The Bottom Line
I use AI. I'm transparent about it. It makes me faster, not lazier. It handles the repetitive work so I can focus on the work that actually requires a human: understanding you, designing for your audience, and building something that serves your business for years to come.
If that sounds like the kind of developer you want to work with, let's talk. And if you have questions about any of this, I'm happy to answer them honestly. That's kind of my whole thing.