Wix, a platform known primarily for its web design tools, is launching a generative AI feature that lets customers create and edit iOS or Android apps by describing in plain English what they want to see.
The feature, which will be rolling out to Wix's app builder tool this week, guides users through a chatbot-like interface to help understand the app's purpose, intent, and aesthetic. Using this information, Wix's AI will generate a customizable app from the app editor, which can then be optionally decorated with first- and third-party integrations, widgets, and connectors.
The generative AI-powered app creation follows Wix's AI website generator, announced last July, which can output site templates with text and images from a set of descriptive captions. Wix co-founder and CEO Avishai Abrahami said the new AI product is part of Wix's broader strategy to create “custom AI solutions” to help businesses jump-start their digital experiences.
“Wix's mission is to empower anyone to create an online presence, including mobile apps,” Abrahami told TechCrunch. “As a company, we've learned a lot about AI and how users interact with it as they create their online presence.”
Building an app from scratch
Wix says its new AI-powered app builder, which requires a $99/month subscription to the Wix Premium Branded Apps plan, generates “fully native” app code for iOS and Android. Users have control over their app's branding, layout and functionality, including icons and themes, and can preview their apps before submitting them to the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.
“The goal with our AI is to offload most or all of the heavy lifting from you,” Abrahami says. “The more detailed your answers are to the prompts during setup, the more personalized and complete the app our AI generates will be.”
Image credit: Wix
It all sounds great in theory. But reviews of Wix's AI site builder haven't been all positive, with early adopters reporting bugs and a generic-looking end product.
So why would we expect Wix's AI app builder to be better, when the tech under the hood is similar aside from some upgraded generative AI models?
Abrahami dismissed complaints about Wix's site builder, claiming that feedback has been “overwhelmingly positive” and that customers have created hundreds of thousands of AI-generated websites since its release.
Image credit: Wix
“This strong response and adoption highlights the depth of our AI expertise and the strength of our product team,” he said. “We're excited to extend this experience to mobile as well.”
However, the risks are a bit higher with apps, at least from a security standpoint.
Studies and surveys have shown that generative AI tools push more erroneous code into codebases, magnifying existing bugs and security issues in app code. In fact, a Purdue University study found that more than half of the answers OpenAI's ChatGPT gives to programming questions are incorrect.
Image credit: Wix
Abraham acknowledged that the AI app builder, like any generative AI tool, can make mistakes. But he said Wix is ”a game changer.”[improving] We are always particular about our products.”
“Our security team implements and maintains robust security practices for all of our solutions, including our mobile app builder,” he added. “Applications and code are subject to ongoing review and monitoring for security and intrusions.”
Can you replace a developer?
Assuming Wix's AI-powered app designer works as advertised, it could pose a threat to corporations and solopreneurs involved in the multibillion-dollar business of building smartphone apps for brands.
FlutterFlow, Crowdea, Mobile-First Company, the list goes on and on, and many of them are also employing AI in one form or another. A quick search on Fiverr reveals a long list of highly-rated app developers, some of whom charge roughly the same price as a subscription to Wix's AI app builder.
Abrahami asserted that Wix isn't trying to replace developers, but rather provide an alternative for customers who want one. He said the tool is deeply integrated with Wix's broader product portfolio, which could make it more appealing to Wix's millions of existing users, and it also offers features such as usage analytics and app update handling through an affiliate app store.
“Professional developers will continue to play an important role, especially for more complex and specialized app projects,” Abrahami said. “There's room for both routes in app creation.”
I'm not sure if app developers would agree, but they don't really have much of a choice in the matter.