Will AI Replace Web Designer & Developer Jobs?

  by Kyle Prinsloo      Last updated Dec 22, 2022

As AI continues to advance, it's normal to think:

"Will AI eventually replace web designers and developers?"

In this article, I'll explore the potential impact of AI on these roles and what the future may hold for web professionals.

And yes, this intro was written with AI 🤯

🎥 Prefer watching? Here’s the video:

Do I think AI will replace web developer & web designer jobs?

So this actually a question I’ve been getting a lot and I’m excited to get into it.

Most content on this topic talks about how AI and ChatPGT in general will speed up productivity, and basically that it will just help developers & designers get more done.

But I think that’s the wrong conclusion here.

Stop thinking like an employee and think like a business owner.

If a tool will help save development time, that doesn’t only mean developers can get more done.

It also means a business owner doesn’t need to hire 10 developers because 8 will work just as good.

I know this might sound controversial, but let me give a few examples:

🖼️ Interior Decorating:

Imagine taking a picture of your room, uploading it to an AI tool, and seeing 20 results in different styles to decorate it. That’s what the tool, interior.ai does.

Now let’s take this a step further and say the AI shows you where to buy all the products, then it shows you the amounts and you just say “buy” and it does all the rest with pre-populated data.

This will replace a lot of what an interior decorator does. So are they redundant?

No… it means that this AI will reduce their demand as the supply is easier, quicker, better, and much cheaper.

🏠 Architects:

Imagine an AI where I take a picture of a plot of land, tell it my budget, that I want a modern 3 bedroom home, and then it provides me with 10 different designs within 10 minutes.

Rather than an architecture firm hiring 100 architects, they can hire 50.

You get the point here.

The same applies to:

• Paralegals for law firms
• Designers for businesses
• Copywriters for marketing agencies

At the core of what we’re talking about, it’s technology.

Look at how technology revolutionised factories, farming, education, logistics, and so much more.

So… my short answer on this question of do I think AI will replace web designer & developer jobs?

Yes, I think AI & ChatGPT will replace a lot of jobs, like in these examples I mentioned, but not all of them of course, and I think NEW jobs will also created that we’ve not even thought of yet.

Now, if you are still with me and haven’t clicked away from this article, I’d like to discuss why I’m excited about this tool as a freelancer and business owner.

What I like about ChatGPT in particular:

Think of it as a 2nd brain.

You get:

• More creativity to brainstorm ideas.
• A tool to help you write content.
• A tool to help you optimize your business.
• A tool to help you automate how you do it.

I’m not going to go into detail, as there are a lot of videos covering this topic and how it works, but I like the fact ChatGPT can help you:

• Write newsletters
• Write tweets
• Write SEO tags
• Write code
• Help with web design

What does the future look like?

We can only speculate here and not speak from experience because this is new to all of us as a society.

There are a lot of strong opinions on this topic, but it’s just that - opinions and theories.

Only time will tell how it unfolds and what happens the next 10+ years.

But, I do have a few suggestions as a lay-man on this topic:

• Freelancing is still a great opportunity and the doors that open from there can lead to many other things.
• Build a personal brand and you won’t be surprised with all the opportunities you get.
• Niche down. Be known in an industry.
• Adapt. Read the book Who Moved My Cheese? 

Either way, a new mindset and attitude is needed.

Don’t be left behind wanting to ride horses while everyone is driving cars - or AI self-driving cars 🙂

That’s it from me, hope you found it helpful.

What do you think about AI and ChatGPT?

Also consider joining my free freelancing community for web designers and developers with 1,000+ others, called Freelancer X. Join us here.

Cheers for now 🙂

Kyle