Astro is Wix's new AI tool, and it's going to change the way you work

Over the last couple of years, Wix has been pouring more and more into AI research, leading to new features like the AI Design Assistant, an AI Text and Image Creator, and a bevy of advanced AI design tools released as part of Wix Studio.

Now, the company is looking to consolidate all these different enhancements into a single AI product called Astro – an all-in-one site and business management tool that will be available to all premium users at no extra cost. It's an interesting addition to our top pick of the best web builders for small businesses.

I was offered an early peek at Wix’s new AI agent ahead of its imminent release. Simply put, Astro is a chatbot. But it’s one that can track visitor behaviour, generate marketing content, customise site services, and build detailed reports, all from a single interface. You just tell Astro what you want to accomplish in natural language – it will recommend the necessary add-ons, adjust your site settings, and do all the other heavy-lifting needed to make it happen.

With a little over 800 third-party add-ons accessible through the Wix App Market — not to mention several more built-in modules and native integrations — Wix is an incredibly feature-rich website builder for creative workers and small businesses. But with new tools added every week, it can be a bit tricky to keep pace with the platform. That’s where Astro comes in.

I felt that this release is not so much about breaking new ground, but offering creative workers and business owners a more accessible way to interact with the tools it already features. From complex code generation to advanced dropshipping options, Wix already offers more than any other single website builder in the market. Astro is just going to organise all these different aspects of the AI builder into a single interface that’s easy to navigate and understand.

Yet all this added convenience does raise some uncomfortable questions for creative professionals. When developing a design-heavy small business website, updating it, and managing your digital operations is as easy as interacting with a chatbot, will business owners still hire digital creatives to do it for them? It’s a bit early to say but I’m not entirely optimistic.

Evidence has shown over and over how important the human element is to UI and UX design. But with cash-strapped startups, the choice often comes down to financial convenience. For what it’s worth, I like what Wix has done with its new AI agent. It’s accessible, user-friendly, and takes away a lot of the hassle of creating and managing an early-stage business website. But, I wonder whether this will create more opportunities for creative workers, take them away, or perhaps even both?