Site Mender
Artificial intelligence seems to be everywhere these days.
Every software company is adding AI features. Every webinar is about AI. Every business owner is being told they need an AI strategy.
Like most technology, though, the reality falls somewhere between the hype and the fear.
At Site Mender, we’ve incorporated AI into portions of our workflow because it can genuinely improve efficiency and help us solve problems more quickly. At the same time, there are many areas where we intentionally rely on human expertise, creativity, and experience.
We believe a little transparency is helpful.
So here’s how we actually use AI in our day-to-day work, and how we don’t.
One of the most valuable uses of AI is as a troubleshooting assistant.
When a client encounters a small technical issue, we can often use AI to help analyze error messages, review logs, suggest possible causes, and identify potential solutions.
This is especially helpful when our developers are focused on larger projects. Rather than waiting for a developer to become available for every minor issue, AI can often help us narrow down possibilities and identify the right direction more quickly.
Importantly, AI isn’t making the final decision. It’s simply helping us investigate and evaluate options faster.
We also use AI extensively as a brainstorming and planning tool.
Marketing ideas, content calendars, website topics, operational planning, service development, and business strategy discussions can all benefit from having an intelligent sounding board available.
Much like discussing an idea with a colleague, AI can help challenge assumptions, suggest alternatives, and uncover opportunities that might otherwise be overlooked. That doesn’t mean we blindly follow its recommendations. Instead, we use it to generate perspectives that help us make better-informed decisions.
Sometimes the most valuable question isn’t “What’s the answer?”
It’s “What am I missing?”
AI excels at offering alternate approaches to problems.
Whether we’re evaluating website architecture, planning content structures, organizing navigation, reviewing technical solutions, or assessing project workflows, AI can provide additional viewpoints that help us think through challenges more thoroughly. In many ways, it functions like a second set of eyes.
Not because it’s always right, but because it often helps uncover considerations that deserve attention.
Despite what many headlines suggest, AI-generated code still requires careful review and validation. While AI can occasionally help explain code concepts or provide examples, we do not rely on it to build complex functionality for client websites.
Custom development requires understanding business requirements, security considerations, scalability concerns, and long-term maintenance needs. Those decisions still require experienced developers.
A website is too important to simply ask a machine to build it and hope for the best.
AI image generators can certainly create interesting visuals. What they cannot do is understand a client’s goals, audience, competitive landscape, branding requirements, or business objectives.
Good design is not simply arranging colors and images on a screen. Good design solves problems.
It communicates trust. It guides users. It reinforces brand identity. It supports business goals.
That’s why our design decisions remain firmly in human hands.
One area where we’ve intentionally drawn a line is client communication. When you contact us, you’re talking to us.
Not a chatbot.
Not an automated ticket response system pretending to be a person.
Not a canned AI-generated message.
Our clients deserve real answers from real people who understand their websites and their businesses. Technology should improve customer service, not create distance between companies and the people they serve.
The conversation around AI is often framed as humans versus machines. We don’t think that’s the right way to look at it.
The businesses that benefit most from AI will likely be those that use it to enhance human expertise rather than replace it.
That’s the approach we’ve taken.
AI helps us troubleshoot faster, think more broadly, and evaluate more possibilities. But strategy, creativity, design, communication, and decision-making remain fundamentally human responsibilities. And we expect that to remain true for a very long time.
Curious about how technology and human expertise work together to support your website? Contact Site Mender to learn more about our approach to website maintenance, support, and development.