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What just happened? WordPress.com has just rolled out an AI website builder that can create an entire site in just minutes, complete with written content, images, layout, and more. It’s now available in early access to all users, and it’s initially free to try out. You will just need a WordPress.com account to get started.
The feature, dubbed the WordPress AI Site Builder, offers a chat interface similar to ChatGPT, except your prompts help design the website. You start by describing the type of site you need – personal portfolio, small business, blog, etc. – and give it a sense of your preferred look and feel. WordPress says the more details you can provide up front, the better tailored the initial results will be.
From there, the AI will generate a full website draft with written pages, visual elements like headers and stock imagery, styling, colors, and layout. If you’re not impressed with the AI’s first pass, you can just keep chatting with it for further refinement.
“Unlike other AI experiences that generate basic, one-size-fits-all templates, our AI website builder does things differently,” WordPress says. “Be as specific as possible in your first prompt: The more information you supply to the builder, the better.”
When you’re finally satisfied with the AI’s creation, it can be published live on WordPress.com’s hosting service. The initial free trial allows 30 prompts before you’re asked to pick a hosting plan, all of which offer unlimited prompts. Plans start at $18 per month, though you may secure a discount if you pay for a longer term up front.
For now, the feature is focused on relatively simple website needs. More complex requirements like ecommerce functionality or third-party integrations aren’t supported yet. But WordPress says additional capabilities are coming.
Of course, you can also use AI to create just the initial layout and add elements like ecommerce functionality later on. The platform says that your created website is “still WordPress,” so you can always take over and edit/add pages manually. The traditional suite of development tools and customization options remains available.
One limitation of the new feature is that it only creates sites from scratch. But integrating it with existing installations could be on the roadmap.
This isn’t the first time a website-building platform has offered AI features to help people get started. Offerings from Wix and Squarespace have been around for a while, though WordPress’s entry brings benefits to such a massive user base for the first time. After all, about 43% of the world’s websites currently run on the platform.
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