The Hidden Risks of AI-Generated Website Code

Published by West Coast Cyber Chick · Shoreline Digital Marketing

AI coding tools have become indispensable — but the code they produce can quietly open doors that no marketer intended to leave unlocked.

Imagine asking a helpful assistant to build you a front door — and they do it fast, it looks great, but they forgot to add a lock. That’s what’s quietly happening when AI tools write website code without anyone checking the security behind it.

5 Security Pitfalls to Know

1. Contact Forms That Let Anyone In ? Critical

AI often builds forms — like “Contact Us” or newsletter sign-ups — without proper safety checks on what gets submitted. This means a bad actor could type in malicious commands instead of their name, and the website might actually run them.

2. Secret Passwords Left in Plain Sight ? Critical

AI-generated code sometimes buries private access keys — think of them like master passwords — directly inside the website’s code. Anyone who knows where to look (and it’s not hard) can find and steal them.

3. Using Old, Broken Building Blocks ? High

AI tools learn from older data, so they often recommend website components that haven’t been updated in years — some with known security holes. It’s like building a new house with recalled materials nobody told you about.

4. Leaving the Back Door Wide Open ? High

Websites have invisible rules about who is allowed to talk to them and from where. AI-generated code often skips these rules entirely — which is a bit like putting up a “no trespassing” sign but leaving the gate unlocked.

5. No Lock on the Admin Room ? Medium–High

When AI builds dashboards or admin areas, it often doesn’t set up proper controls over who can access what. The result? Anyone who stumbles upon the right URL might be able to see — or change — things they absolutely shouldn’t.

“AI doesn’t make code secure by default — it makes code fast. The responsibility for security still belongs entirely to the humans deploying it.”

Your AI Code Safety Checklist

Before you publish any AI-generated code, run through these five steps:

• Always have a human review the code — don’t publish AI-generated code straight to your website. Have someone check it first, even briefly.
• Use a free security scanner — tools like Snyk or Google’s Lighthouse can automatically flag obvious problems before you go live.
• Keep passwords out of the code — any private keys or login credentials should be stored separately, never written directly into the website files.
• Test your forms — try submitting unexpected or unusual text into any AI-built form to see if the site handles it gracefully.
• Tell your clients — if you use AI tools in your workflow, be upfront about it and reassure them a security review is always part of your process.

Found this helpful? Share it with a colleague who uses AI coding tools. It only takes one overlooked form to create a serious breach.

— West Coast Cyber Chick | Shoreline Digital Marketing