AI ONLY for Speed Is the Wrong Goal

Hey everyone, this is Allan. Today I dealt with two emergency landing pages, which doesn’t happen often because I usually avoid taking on last‑minute projects when my schedule is tight.

First Emergency

Early this morning a friend contacted me because his freelancer fell ill. He needed someone to develop a page in WordPress using Elementor. I have about four years of experience with Elementor, something I did regularly before I started coding, and I still dabble in from time to time. In recent months I’ve been focused on AI, Cloud Code, and building pages with Cloud Code Novelties, so I don’t often work with Elementor now.

I said yes because I had the experience and, unusually, I had the time. I normally steer clear of emergencies to avoid delayed deliveries and the risk they pose to my reputation. If I don’t have enough time, I prefer not to take the job.

Second Emergency

Around 4 p.m. another client needed a landing page urgently. He was running a paid‑traffic campaign and required a new page, but he didn’t have copywriting or a Figma layout. Fortunately, a friend had already created a layout that I could drop into WordPress.

A few weeks earlier, actually more than two months ago, I had built a landing page for the same client as a test using Cloud Code’s front‑end and design skills. I did that to learn how the tool works, and the page is still live today. I asked the client if I could reuse that design as a template, and he agreed.

I then instructed Cloud Code to generate the landing page by pulling the text from existing pages. I didn’t have fresh copy, but I knew the client’s business well enough to supply the necessary information. Cloud Code pulled the content from the live pages, and the whole process took roughly 30 minutes. It finished before I completed the Elementor version in WordPress, because Cloud Code was working in parallel with me.

Reflections on AI

The second emergency felt even more urgent because the campaign wasn’t converting, so the new page could have a real impact on revenue. This wasn’t a test; it was a genuine project.

I recognize that AI can give us speed, but I don’t want to be “the fast guy” who uses AI only to rush things out. Solving a lot of problems quickly doesn’t always create meaningful impact, and I can’t be on call for emergencies all the time. I need to be honest with my clients, with you, and with myself: using AI solely to fix last‑minute issues isn’t the best approach.

For me, AI is most valuable as a tool for planning, deepening my understanding, and improving my knowledge. There’s a Portuguese expression that translates to “extinguishing a fire.” If you only work on putting out fires, you’ll keep having fires to put out and end up overwhelmed. I want to focus on quality work and maintain trust in my skills, not just on delivering things at the last second.