When Matrix came out in 1999, nobody thought anything even resembling that world could become the reality. Luckily, we’re not quite there yet (and hopefully we’ll never be), but AI has definitely made a breakthrough in technology.
For instance, AI can even be used for SEO content generation and optimization. AI is also used in the website development process, manufacturing, healthcare, and many other aspects of life.
However, before we elaborate on the role of AI in web development, let’s go over some basic information – what is AI, what are the advantages and disadvantages of using AI, and some examples of AI use in web development.
What is AI?
AI or Artificial Intelligence refers to creating intelligent machines capable of working and reacting like actual human beings. These machines are also able to learn and think, which is all accomplished by gathering a large amount of data, processing and analyzing it for patterns, and using these patterns to make predictions about future states and behaviors.
For instance, when your device gets unlocked with Face ID, it’s using AI technology to enable that functionality. With the help of artificial intelligence, Apple’s Face ID automatically adapts to changes in your appearance, such as makeup or growing facial hair. In case of a more significant change in your appearance, like shaving a full beard, it confirms your identity with a password and then updates your face data. It can even work with glasses, sunglasses, hats, and scarves.
Why should you use AI?
Artificial intelligence has many benefits, or else it wouldn’t be so popular. Let’s look at some interesting statistics:
- AI is projected to contribute $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030 (PwC)
- Almost 50% of respondents state they use data analysis, machine learning, or AI tools to solve data quality issues (O’Reilly)
- By 2025 it’s likely that as much as 80% of companies will adopt intelligent automation (Analytics Insights)
As you can tell, artificial intelligence has taken over the modern world, and not without reason. Here are some benefits of using AI in web development:
Improved user experience.
When we talk about user experience, we’re talking about how users interact with the product and the overall feeling the user has after that interaction.
A high-quality user experience is important because it attracts new customers and retains the existing ones. If users aren’t satisfied with the UX, they may tell their friends and acquaintances about it thus damaging your reputation. All that can lead to revenue loss.
Artificial intelligence can help you identify the user’s needs in a better way. This will help you come up with ways that can satisfy users’ needs. AI-powered tools can also perform statistical analysis to predict the user’s experience. However, working only with the top AI companies is advisable when integrating automation into your development process.
Personalized content.
Recognizing your users’ needs will help you deliver more personalized content. For instance, AI tools will, based on the content you’ve previously shown interest in, suggest similar content in the form of music, videos, blog pieces, etc.
It saves time.
Most people spend a lot of their work time doing repetitive tasks. Furthermore, even if these tasks aren’t repetitive, who’s to say they must be done by a human?
Using AI can help companies focus on what’s important instead of wasting their time. A good example of this is chatbots. Many companies have already implemented them, which helps them focus on other things in customer support.
Are there any disadvantages?
The use of artificial intelligence, sadly, also has some disadvantages.
Humans are being replaced.
AI-powered machines and humans have become so sophisticated and autonomous in the last couple of years. Just think about self-driving cars – soon enough humans won’t even need to have their hands on the wheel and eyes on the road to drive.
Though the human role has become threatened in many areas, web development is, luckily, still in the clear.
A London web design agency has already started using algorithms that can create websites and aid developers by giving design suggestions. This is a good thing because it allows developers and web designers to focus on refining the details.
Privacy issues.
Users often feel like their privacy is invaded through the use of AI. This fear isn’t entirely unfounded since AI is, for instance, is often used to identify and track individuals across different devices, which information can be misused.
That’s why transparency is important – if you want people to trust you, you should o inform them of the use of their personal data.
Lacks personal touch.
We’ve already mentioned that AI can aid you in providing a personalized experience, but most of the time, a personal touch is still needed. Machines simply can’t do everything for you, at least not yet.
No matter how well-programmed and creative your chatbots and automatic responses, customers can still know that it wasn’t a real person responding to their questions. Especially since the pandemics started, people need personal interactions and AI is not providing that.
How is AI used in web development?
Artificial intelligence has been widely used in nearly all areas, so web development is not an exception. As you can probably tell, AI has become a helpful tool to web developers and web designers in terms of the programming and designing process.
However, the role of AI in web development doesn’t end there. There are a couple more ways web developers can leverage artificial intelligence:
Chatbots
When chatbots initially appeared, they weren’t very good at making the right reply predictions. Nowadays, they are able to simulate real-life conversations and adapt to the responses.
Chatbots can be programmed to respond exactly the same each time or differently if they detect the usage of certain keywords. They even use machine learning to adapt their responses to make everything seem more real and personal.
They are usually used to enhance customer experience and improve engagement rate. They also help companies save money because they don’t have to hire employees to do the same job.
Marketing predictions
Artificial intelligence can aid marketing specialists in making marketing predictions. With the use of AI, you’ll be able to effortlessly answer the following questions:
- What will your customers most likely buy next?
- Which products are your customers’ favorites, and which ones they’re not so fond of?
- What are the devices that customers use to browse your website?
- At what time are your customers most likely to purchase your products?
This will help marketing specialists focus on coming up with a better strategy based on the results the AI-powered tools provide them.
SEO
Search engine optimization is a gateway to online organic growth and AI-powered tools are often used to perform automated keyword research, analyze and create content automatically, increase traffic and site growth, and help with voice search content discovery.
AI can also make the content writers’ job easier in terms of grammar, sentence correction, rephrasing, semantic content analysis, and paragraph generation using keywords.
AI customer experience analytics
Did you know that you can use natural language processing (NLP) to automatically categorize text by the polarity of opinion (positive, negative, and neutral)? This is called sentiment analysis and it is great for customer surveys since that’s when users tend to express their emotions.
This allows you to ask open-ended questions, so you can analyze responses deeper than a simple “Yes” or “No.”
It can also be used to sort emails by the level of urgency or discontent and prioritize those that are critical to your reputation and customer satisfaction.
To wrap it up
Artificial intelligence has multiple roles and advantages in web development, as you can tell. Though there are still some downsides to using AI in web development, we can’t deny it can be very helpful in performing certain tasks.