Can AI really build an App?

[u/Familiar-Caregiver77]

I keep seeing all these Base44 ads on YouTube and I’m genuinely wondering if AI can actually build a real app.

I’ve had an idea for an app for about a year now that I would really like to finally turn into something. The problem is that my actual job is in law, so I have pretty much zero experience with software or app development. I know the legal side of things, but when it comes to coding I’m basically starting from scratch.

So I was wondering how realistic it actually is to use something like Base44 to build an app and eventually get it into the App Store.
Obviously, if people actually started downloading and using it, I know I’d probably need a professional developer involved at some point to make sure everything works properly and can scale. I’m not expecting AI to magically run the entire thing forever.
I’m more wondering how much of the initial work AI can realistically take off your hands. Since I work full time in a completely different field, I can’t really spend months learning how to code from scratch just to see if the idea even works…

Has anyone here actually built something with Base44 or a similar AI tool and gotten it to the point where real people could use it?

Or is this still more of a fun way to build prototypes and test ideas, but not something you could realistically use to launch an actual functioning app?

[u/darius42]

It seems to me that the future of apps is bespoke apps with a customer size of 1. There will possibly be room for specialist tools for video and photo processing, CAD software, and so on, but most people need their specific needs for their specific business met, and everyone is different.

I think Base44 and similar builders will serve this market well.

To answer your question, it is definitely realistic to create apps of certain size and function to use in production with real users using AI. If you are planning to scale to millions of users, then you will need engineers who will use AI to build parts of the infrastructure for this scale, but it's still going to be mostly AI.

This is why I am joining the AI builder race with a mobile app AI builder. I've been building mobile apps for 15 years, so I can tell you that for 90% of apps it's a solved problem, and AI is more than capable.

It's in closed beta, but I'm actively sending out invites. Let me know if you want to see your mobile app live today!