Artificial intelligence (AI) is already fully integrated into the web development industry, and AI is increasingly performing more complex tasks. But its importance in web development isn’t always noticed or talked about. And if you’re looking to work in web development, then you should be familiar with how AI is changing the game.
That’s why we’ve put together this guide. Below, we’ll detail 7 of the most common ways AI is currently used to assist web development, including coding assistants, voice-based searching, testing, and more.
How Is AI Used In Web Development?
Currently, the world of web development is fuelled by the collaboration of artificial and human intelligence. AI can’t do the job alone, and humans no longer need to. Most AI use cases in web development complement the work human programmers do and help the development process progress more efficiently.
7 Ways AI Is Used in Web Development
Ranging from code writing to improving user experience, AI is already used in various aspects of web development. Here’s what that looks like:
Coding Assistants
Coding programs can be used by experienced programmers to help them write more code without typing as much themselves. A software engineer’s work is largely creative and requires complex reasoning and extensive knowledge and understanding of the project at hand. However, even new and innovative solutions include small, simple, and commonly used concepts, stacked together like building blocks.
Example
Programs like Codex or Github’s Copilot can help programmers by suggesting the next line of the code they’re working on or assembling small blocks of code for the programmer to use. However, they can only handle short, simple programs, and the accuracy rates are pretty low. According to OpenAI, for example, Codex has only a 37% chance of getting its code completely correct.
Even so, it can produce just enough accurate code to make it quicker and easier for programmers to use. However, this does mean that the human programmer needs to be experienced enough to quickly spot mistakes and rectify them in order to use coding assistants effectively.
Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI)
An ADI creates complete and functional e-commerce websites for users, covering everything from aesthetic design to structure and content. By asking users a few simple questions and drawing on the masses of data it’s been trained on, an ADI can design a site that fits any purpose and any sense of taste.
Example
Website builder Wix released Wix ADI way back in 2016, training its new AI with the experiences of more than 86 million users. The technology can develop unique websites from billions of combinations and possibilities, ensuring users get all the functionalities they need in a layout that suits their style. Users can customize these AI-designed websites, changing themes and adding text and images to fully complete their project. Wix ADI can either generate a website from start to finish or guide a user on how to build the site themselves.
Smart Chatbots for a Personalized End-User Experience
Utilizing an AI-powered chatbot helps users instantly find the information they need without having to search for it manually. Users can type a natural language question to the chatbot and receive answers and links instantly. The bot draws from the information already available on the site and can be trained to answer certain questions in a certain way.
Example
Intercom provides AI-based chatbots to companies that integrate right into websites, apps, or other software. The bot can’t resolve all kinds of queries, but it can act as a first point of contact before a human staff member needs to take any action. This helps users with simple questions and gives staff more time to deal with more complex requests.
Voice-Based Interactions for a Convenient Search Experience
Scrolling through screens of written information can be highly inefficient, and reading through an entire paragraph to find the sentence you want is less efficient than having the desired information spoken to you directly. This is what voice search can offer: users speak a question into their device, and a voice-optimized AI pinpoints the correct information and speaks it back.
Like smart chatbots, voice-based searches provide a quicker and easier user interface method for finding information.
Example
Apple’s virtual assistant Siri can retrieve information and complete tasks through spoken commands. It works alongside multiple other devices and can communicate with them across long distances. Google Assistant also has similar features. Tasks they can perform include:
- Sending texts
- Retrieving information from the internet
- Controlling smart home features
- Using smartphone features like reminders, alarms, and timers
- Searching for and playing music
- Translating to other languages
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Made Easier
Search engine optimization can be a grueling process, requiring extensive research into the right keywords, phrasing, and content topics. An SEO AI, however, can provide all of this information for you. It can generate top-performing headlines and topics for you to write about, and give you all the keywords you need to include to make it rank well.
Some SEO AI can even write chunks of text for you, crafting introductions with the perfect keyword density to help your website gain favor with Google’s own AI.
Example
SEO.ai is a search engine optimization software that helps people craft high-performing content quickly and efficiently. It can suggest content headlines or rank the user’s own, suggest keywords, and compare pieces against competitors to uncover content gaps. It also gives content an overall score so users can see how well it will rank on Google and what they can do to improve it.
Dynamic Content Personalization
Businesses need to stay in contact with their customer base to keep them coming back for more, but one-size-fits-all messaging and emails aren’t big attention grabbers. Instead, consumers want messaging that’s personal and relevant to them, as this demonstrates that a brand knows how to deliver what they need.
It’s possible to create personalized experiences even for hundreds of thousands of individual customers by using dynamic content personalization driven by AI. By drawing on data from various different sources, AI can determine where a consumer is in the customer journey, learn about their behaviors, and craft marketing strategies with content that speaks directly to them.
Example
Braze is a customer engagement platform that helps brands create customer-centric interactions that help keep their target audiences engaged. Relying on AI and the data it draws from, Braze can help brands connect with customers when it matters most, with messaging that’s accurate and relevant to each user and where they are in their customer journey.
Website and Vulnerability Testing
Designing and running tests for website code is a hands-on job. Programmers need to watch the results, tweak the tests, find optimal test cases, and keep watching for more changes each time a test runs. Artificial intelligence can make this process more efficient by maintaining simple tests automatically, while programmers work on more complex problems.
Example
For example, Diffblue Cover is an autonomous Java unit test writing system that uses AI to help programmers create, update, and maintain Java applications. It operates at a high speed, writing more tests in a few hours than a typical developer could in a full year. It can adapt to changes in code, and keep tests running with minimal to no maintenance to help improve quality assurance.
So, Will AI Replace Web Developers?
AI is not going to replace web developers any time soon. The current technology isn’t designed to write a whole project from scratch—it’s designed to complement human programmers and make their jobs a little easier.
Other types of artificial intelligence are made to design solutions based on data, but at a scale that humans could never achieve alone. They help us achieve things that weren’t possible before, or help optimize tasks we were already doing so that humans can focus on the jobs that AI is still very incapable of.
Here’s How Web Developers Can Use AI Effectively:
- Use AI to help with a job, not to do a job for you. One of the most important things to remember is human intervention is always needed when dealing with AI-written code. They’re branded as “assistants” because they need to work with you, not for you.
- Think about how AI can help users. Using artificial intelligence for web development doesn’t just mean using coding assistants. They can also be used to help users interact with websites and brands in new and more efficient ways, for example, customer experience and support chatbots.
- Delegate low-level work to AI to free up your time. When used correctly, AI can help programmers spend more time working on new and complex tasks, and less time on basic maintenance. This helps increase productivity and the value of the work you output.
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The Future of AI in Web Development
Generally speaking, artificial intelligence in web development is a positive development for both users and developers, and we can all look forward to seeing where it will go next. If you’re interested in working in artificial intelligence, Springboard’s machine learning and AI program can help you get up to speed and ready for work in just six months.
FAQs About AI in Web Development
Here are some frequently asked questions on AI in web development.
Can Web Development Be Automated?
Some aspects of web development can be automated to quite an extent, such as using artificial design intelligence to draw on design trends and generate fully functional websites. However, this requires website-building technology that was designed and written by humans. Most automated aspects of web development are made possible by human work, and AI can’t do the job alone.
How Is Machine Learning Used in Web Development?
Machine learning is used in web development to train bots and AI on relevant data to help them make informed decisions independently. This kind of deep learning helps us develop AI solutions that can perform tasks for extended periods of time without maintenance, as they can adapt to changes and continue working independently.
Can AI Be Used for Coding?
Writing code directly is one of the tasks current AIs struggle with. OpenAI’s Codex writes code with just 37% accuracy, so it’s clear that AI couldn’t handle website or app development alone. However, they can assist with the development process by completing simple jobs for programmers as they write code.
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