AI websites design themselves

The Grid is a site-building platform that intelligently analyzes content and structures it in a beautiful and easy-to-read layout.

Not everyone has an eye for good design, or the skills to pull it off. And yet it's an incredibly important aspect of any business, especially in the age of the web where judgments are made at lightning speed. Blogging platforms such as WordPress and Tumblr, along with WYSIWYG, do-it-yourself builders, have made website creation much easier in the last few years, but they still require a ton of human input and control. We recently wrote about Tailor, which uses AI to create contemporary branding, The Grid is a site-building platform that intelligently analyzes content and structures it in a beautiful and easy-to-read layout.

The service enables customers to choose a 'layout filter' — essentially a theme — for their site, but rather than content slotting into that design, the design shifts dependent on the content. For example, the system analyzes images for color and alters the color of the caption box to a shade that's complementary to both the image and the site theme. Images can also be cropped to perfectly frame the content through facial and object recognition, as well as automatically resized and programmed for responsive design.

The Grid also asks users to define a purpose for their site — whether it's to gain more followers, sell a product or display a portfolio, among others. The layout is then adapted for each objective. Each theme can automatically pull in related links and content from the web depending on keywords in post text. The layout also shifts dynamically to emphasize new content, as well as posts that are being shared on social networks or are linked to trending stories.

Watch the video below to learn more about The Grid:

According to the creators, a WordPress site takes on average 18 hours to build and customize. The Grid can create an equivalent site in 3 minutes, although users need to be happy to surrender some creative control over to a robot. Although the concept uses artificial intelligence — and in some cases machine learning — to tailor sites to each user, there's always a real designer on hand to ensure layouts don't go rogue and create a design that looks awkward in human eyes. For those who want to try it out, the service will cost USD 25 a month, which is good for creating up to 7 sites. Are there other ways that AI could make content production and presentation an easier and less time-consuming task?