I shipped a project last year where the AI built the site and a human did not touch it. Then I shipped one where the AI built the site and a human spent 20 hours on it. Here is what happened.
The untouched-AI site
Client brief: portfolio for a wedding photographer. Three sections (about, portfolio, contact), one accent color, no custom photography required. I gave the brief to Manus, accepted most of its draft, and shipped it.
Time spent: 4 hours. Cost to client: $400.
How it performed: client was happy, but traffic was flat, conversion was flat, and within three months the client came back asking for “a few tweaks” — which turned into a full redesign. The site looked like every other AI site. It did not stand out. It did not convert.
The edited-AI site
Client brief: same kind of photographer, slightly different scope. This time I generated it in Manus, then spent 20 hours: rewriting the copy to have personality, replacing the stock imagery with photography the client provided, restructuring the portfolio section to lead with their best work, and adding testimonial blocks the AI had not included.
Time spent: 24 hours. Cost to client: $1,800.
How it performed: client was happy. Traffic grew 40% in six months. Conversion (inquiries from the contact form) was 3x what the AI-only version produced.
What I learned
An AI site is a draft. An edited AI site is a product. The difference is not the tech. It is the editorial pass. The cheapest way to ship an AI site produces something that looks like every other AI site. The expensive way produces something that looks like the client site, because it actually is.
Why I still use AI for every site
Even on the $1,800 project, AI saved me 12+ hours. Without it, that same project would have cost $3,000 and taken twice as long. The AI is not the problem. The AI without editing is the problem.
What to ask if you are hiring
Ask: what percentage of the AI draft did you change? If the answer is “I reviewed it,” that is not enough. If the answer is “I rewrote 40-60% and replaced most of the imagery,” you are hiring the right person.