As AI lowers technical barriers in website building by making coding cheap and accessible, where does this leave businesses building for an online audience?
During a fireside chat on the inaugural day of TechSparks 2026 on October 13, Shradha Sharma, Founder and CEO of YourStory and The Bharat Project spoke with Auksė Žirgulė, VP of Product at Hostinger about the changing customer expectations as AI takes over the bulk of software building.
Žirgulė highlighted on that experimentation is now the key to building customer experience. "I’ve noticed that their [customer] questions have become more complex. Earlier, the focus was on building a product. Now, customers are asking questions such as: “The market is saturated, and there are already so many products. What should I do next? How do I attract customers? How do I drive traffic?”
"They’re asking more fundamental business questions rather than simply asking how to build something," she added.
As AI makes building now easier, Žirgulė noted that innovation still remains the key.
"You can build anything, but if you don’t know what problem you’re solving, what’s the point? Founders need to understand the problem they’re addressing and test their products as early as possible. The second factor is innovation. There are so many products in the market that you need to find ways to stand out."
Žirgulė drove the point home using Apple as an example. "Apple didn’t invent the mobile phone or the touchscreen. What it did was deliver an exceptional customer experience. We sometimes become so focused on building products and watching our competitors that we forget to look for new ways to solve problems. That’s where innovation comes in."
However, she noted that even with AI, founders form the core of the company.
"Founders are still the final decision-makers. I don’t know what will happen over the next two years; perhaps AI will eventually make many of these decisions. But, for now, a founder’s job is to understand customers and exercise product judgement. AI can do a lot, but the founder still has the final say," added Žirgulė.
Adding to this, she said that although there is a rush to build and test a product, without thinking how to take it to the market, founders need to think about the business model and the route to market, not just the product.
With AI tools making website in minutes, Sharma asked if the tools can churn out mediocre designs and how founders can navigate this issue
Commenting on this, Žirgulė said,"If you have a website that generates sales and supports your business, it may already be doing its job well. It doesn’t necessarily need to win a design award. The same applies to software. You need to test it, speak to customers and iterate. Ultimately, you need to evaluate whether it delivers the intended results."
With the increasing number of products now easily available in the market, Žirgulė said that this will eventually change customer expectations. "As more people gain the ability to build products, expectations will rise. Products that deliver better user experiences and higher quality will stand out."
As AI agents are now taking independent decisions in business workflows, Žirgulė advises caution. "We need to test how it works, put the right safeguards and capabilities in place, and observe its actions. Experimentation, testing and quality assurance are essential."
Founded in 2004 in Lithuania, Hostinger is a global web hosting and domain provider. It claims to serve 4.6 million businesses and creators across 150+ countries.