Wix has recently announced the launch of its new AI website builder, a tool designed to create websites within seconds based on user prompts. This chatbot aims to significantly simplify the website creation process, allowing users to establish an online presence rapidly without the need for extensive technical knowledge. Though the initial use of the website builder is free, elevating a site with premium features such as payment acceptance or a custom domain name necessitates a subscription to one of Wix's premium plans. These plans range from the Light plan at $17 per month, offering 2GB of storage and support for two collaborators, to the Business Elite plan at $159 per month, which includes advanced analytics and e-commerce features for up to 15 collaborators.
Creating with AI: A User-Friendly Process
The process of creating a website with Wix's AI chatbot begins with users clicking on the “Create with AI” button, followed by answering several questions regarding their desired site's name, purpose, and objectives. The tool swiftly crafts a basic website structure, which can then be fine-tuned using more traditional editing features. Wix integrates AI for various facets of website building, including image and text generation, drawing from “out of the box models” like DALL-E for images and OpenAI's ChatGPT for text creation, according to Wix.
Toward a More Intuitive and Automated Web Design
A practical experiment conducted by Wes Davis, The Verge's weekend editor covering tech and entertainment, highlighted the AI chatbot's potential by attempting to recreate a website resembling The Verge's technology news platform. Despite some initial mismatches and whimsical inaccuracies, such as mistakenly designing features suitable for a hair salon, the experiment underscored the AI tool's ability to generate a reasonable starting point for a website that can be further refined. This initial attempt demonstrated both the ease of use and the necessity for subsequent customization to achieve a site fully aligned with the user's vision.
Wix's AI website builder represents a considerable advancement in making web design more accessible to a broader audience. By leveraging AI to handle the initial heavy lifting of site creation, Wix is empowering users to quickly transition from concept to a functional website, thereby democratizing web design. As this technology evolves, it could further refine and expand the possibilities for creators and entrepreneurs looking to establish or enhance their online presence.
