Microsoft Introduces AI Website Tool
Microsoft launched a Copilot in Power Pages in public preview to North American users. Copilot is an AI assistant for its low-code business website creation tool and can create text, website themes, chatbots, forms, page layouts, and images based on natural language prompts.
Copilot will allow developers to “go from no code (describing the site via natural language) to low code (editing the website design and layouts using the design studio) to pro code (building advanced customization with familiar web frameworks) seamlessly,” Sangya Singh, Microsoft’s VP of Power Pages, recently told TechCrunch.
Copilot is powered by OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 model, the startup and technology behind the ultra-popular chatbot ChatGPT. Developers can feed the AI tool simple descriptions and get custom text content, and adjust the tone, length, and entire message to fit their project.
According to Microsoft, web forms are just as easy to create. Users only need to describe the form they want, and the AI-powered tool will generate the requested back-end database tables. Users can further modify these results.
This AI assistant also allows users to integrate chatbots into their websites. Power Virtual Agents chatbot, as Microsoft calls it, can help site admins streamline their website management process. This feature also enables website visitors to ask natural language questions and get answers in a matter of seconds, which can ultimately drive greater visitor engagement.
Despite the tool’s advanced AI capabilities, the tech giant stresses that “Power Pages Copilot is not an ‘automatic’ AI-pilot generating websites, but an ‘AI assistant’ to a human website maker.”
Microsoft states that building business sites with natural language prompts “has not been done before,” but the concept of using AI to build websites is not entirely new. Wix, a popular website builder, introduced Wix Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) in 2016, an AI website building platform that can create custom websites based on information related to a user’s business and website goals.
Earlier this year, Wix launched an AI Text Creator within its editor that further simplifies the website creation process. Popular web hosting company IONOS also introduced a beta version of an AI text generator within its MyWebsite Now website builder that allows users to create headlines and copy for their websites in a matter of minutes.
While anyone can use website builders like Wix and MyWebsite Now with no prior web design experience, Microsoft’s Power Pages is intended for both low-code and professional developers.