Wix, OpenAI and the Future of Web Design: Do You Still Need to Hire a Designer?
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
This week, Wix announced a strategic partnership with OpenAI as part of the Codex Enterprise launch. On the surface, it is another AI headline in an industry that seems to produce a new one every week, and it does feel a bit overwhelming.
But this time, the announcement has real implications for how websites and digital products will be built in the near future. The short version is that OpenAI's coding tools can now connect directly into Wix's infrastructure through Wix Headless.
That begs the question - if AI can build websites, what happens to agencies, designers and developers?
We Have Been Watching This Happen for a While
The truth is that AI did not suddenly arrive this week.,Over the last 18 months, we have been testing and using tools that can generate layouts, write code, create content structures, connect databases and automate large parts of the website production process.
And that has been largely beneficial. A task that might have taken several hours in 2023 can often be completed in a fraction of the time today. This helps us deliver quality work faster and more efficiently.
The Wix and OpenAI announcement is simply another sign that AI is moving beyond novelty and becoming part of the infrastructure that powers modern businesses. The more interesting question is what becomes valuable when building websites is no longer the difficult part.
Building Was Never the Hard Part
In our case in particular, building was never really the complex part. We've had ready made templates for some time, Fiver developers offering services at a fraction of the cost.
This is where we think a lot of the discussion misses the point. For most business owners, what they need isn't a plain website. It's growth, market understanding and trust and credibility.
A website is simply the tool used to achieve these goals, and over the years, we have seen businesses spend ££££ on websites that looked fantastic but failed commercially because nobody had spent enough time thinking about positioning, messaging or customer behaviour.
We have also seen relatively simple websites outperform much larger competitors because the fundamentals were right. So while technology matters, strategy matters even more.
The Difference Between Building and Deciding
One of the things we discuss regularly with clients is that there is a big difference between creating something and deciding what should be created. AI is becoming very good at the first part because it can build, generate and automate fast.
What it cannot do particularly well is understand the context behind the business. It doesn't understand that different businesses need different strategies - and instead it recommends the same solutions over and over again.
The reality is that AI won't know what questions customers ask consistently, or that the most profitable service is actually the one that sits buried on a secondary page, or that the story of the founder is more compelling than the technical specs of a product.
Those insights still come from conversations, experience and judgement. In many ways, the more content and websites AI creates, the more valuable those insights become.
Agencies Should Not Be Rushing to Compete With AI
There is a temptation in every industry to fight technological change. History suggests that rarely works, and the businesses that survive tend to be the ones that adapt their role rather than defend old ways of working.
In our case at AST & Partners, if a process can be completed faster, that is generally a positive outcome, it means projects move quicker and we can launch sooner.
The goal has never been to maximise the number of hours spent building a website, the goal has always been to build it well, and tailored to the client's goal. If better tools allow us to do that more efficiently, that's GREAT news.
The Real Opportunity for Businesses
Perhaps the most overlooked part of this announcement is what it means for entrepreneurs and business owners. The cost and complexity of launching online continues to go down, and that is incredibly exciting.
Some years ago, launching a professional website often required multiple developers, designers, product managers, lengthy timelines and big budgets. Today, many of the technical barriers are disappearing and that role can be fulfilled by a much smaller team of experts.
This means that more people will be able to start businesses, more ideas will make it to market and more founders will be able to test concepts quickly.
The challenge, however, is that easier creation also means more competition. When everyone can launch a website, the website itself becomes less of a differentiator.
That means that clarity, positioning, trust and brand become the differentiator. The businesses that win will not necessarily be the ones with the most sophisticated technology.
They will be the ones that communicate most effectively.
What This OpenAI & Wix Announcement Means for AST & Partners and Web Design
Announcements like this reinforce the direction we have already been moving in.
Over the past few years, our role has increasingly become one of advisor, strategist and translator. Our clients rarely come to us because they cannot physically build a page. Most modern platforms make that relatively straightforward.
They come to us because they want help making decisions:
what's the focus?
do we need landing pages?
what content should be prioritised?
what's the brand positioning?
Conversations like this have become more important and we believe the future of agencies is unlikely to be defined by who can click the fastest or build pages the quickest. It will be defined by who can provide the clearest thinking, in the interest of the cleint.
Looking Ahead
The Wix and OpenAI partnership is an important milestone, and that's not because it signals the end of agencies, web design or developers, but it confirms something many of us have already been experiencing first-hand: the mechanics of building are becoming easier so the importance of judgement is increasing.
Businesses do not succeed because they have a website, they succeed because they make good decisions. The technology helping us build those websites will continue to evolve at an extraordinary pace, but our job is to help clients make sure the right things are being built in the first place.
