Your Website Looks Like AI Made It. Here's How to Fix That.

You land on a website and immediately know it was built with AI. You can't always name it, but you feel it. Everything is too clean, too even, too agreeable. The sections follow a predictable rhythm. The copy reads like it was assembled, not written.

I've been seeing this more and more. Entire portfolios, landing pages, product sites that look like someone typed "make me a website" and shipped whatever came back. They work. They load. They say the right things. But they don't say anything.

AI generated copy has a sound:

Nobody talks like this. You don't either.

Write like you'd explain it to a friend. If your SaaS helps restaurants manage inventory, say "we help restaurants stop throwing food away." Say what you do, not what a press release would say.

Also watch for the rule of three. AI groups things in threes constantly. "Fast, reliable, and scalable." "Design, develop, and deploy." Break the pattern. Two is often enough.

AI layouts follow the same template: hero with big text and a CTA, three feature cards, testimonials, pricing, footer. It's the statistical average of every landing page ever made. That's also why it's boring.

You don't need to reinvent anything. But make at least one choice that isn't the default. Your hero could be a demo video with no headline. Or you lead with a customer story instead of a value prop. Anything that wasn't the first suggestion.

This isn't about being weird on purpose. It's about having a reason for what's on the page. AI can't have taste. You can, if you bother to use it.

AI designs are too consistent. Same padding everywhere. Same safe palette. Typography is fine. Spacing is fine. Everything is fine, nothing is memorable.

Real designers break their own grids sometimes. They use whitespace unevenly on purpose. They pick a color that doesn't quite match. These small imperfections are what make a site feel like somebody cared about it specifically, not just generally.

A few things that help:

AI sites animate everything the same way. Fade in from bottom on scroll, smooth ease on everything, same timing, same curve. It's elevator music.

Pick your moments. Most things don't need to animate at all. When something does move, make it feel deliberate. A fast snap on hover. A slow reveal on something that matters. I've started removing animations from my own projects more than adding them, and the pages feel better for it.

This one's subtle. AI tries to be thorough, so you end up with hero, features, benefits, how-it-works, testimonials, team, FAQ, blog, newsletter, footer. Nobody reads all that. I certainly don't.

Ask yourself: what are the two things someone needs before they'll take action? Lead with those. Cut the rest or push it to subpages.

Everything above comes down to one thing: AI doesn't make decisions. It averages. It gives you the most statistically probable version of whatever you asked for.

Go through your site and find the places where you accepted the default without thinking. Make a real choice there. Why this color and not that one? Why this word?

You don't need to start over. Most of what the AI gave you is probably fine. Just find the spots where nobody made a call, and make one.