I'll just have ChatGPT build it

People tell me they'll just have ChatGPT build their site. I get it. It writes code, and it's cheap. I use AI every day myself. That's exactly why I know where it falls down.

It writes code. It doesn't run a website.

A website isn't a file. It's a domain, DNS, hosting, SSL, backups, and a server that stays patched and online. AI can explain every one of those. You still have to do them, keep doing them, and notice when one breaks.

It's confident when it's wrong

AI doesn't say "I'm not sure." It hands you old instructions and code that looks fine and isn't. When Veracode tested over 100 AI models, the code they wrote had security flaws in 45% of the tests. If you can't spot the bad parts, you're publishing them.

It doesn't know your business

It doesn't know your town, your customers, or the shop down the street you compete with. Ask it for a plumber's homepage and you get the same page every other plumber got. Google doesn't care who wrote your site. It cares whether it's useful, and generic doesn't rank or sell.

Nobody's checking its work

Does the site work with a screen reader, or a keyboard alone? Is it fast on a cheap phone with one bar of signal? Is it collecting data it shouldn't? AI won't test any of that unless you know to ask, and then you have to check its answers too.

Who fixes it next year?

Something will break: a form that stops sending, an expired certificate, a package with a security hole. When it does, you're back in the chat window at midnight, pasting error messages and hoping. That's the do-it-yourself trap from Why not just use Wix?, with extra steps.

When it's fine

If you're testing an idea and need a page up this weekend, use AI and a free host. Seriously. When it turns into a real business and the site has to bring in customers, that's where I come in. Here's what it costs.

Built something with AI and not sure it's right? Send me a message.