Recently while visiting my parents, my dad, who runs a PR firm in DC called The Casey Group, mentioned his website needed some updating. But WordPress had become a little messy and it wasn't exactly a high priority. Together, in just 48 hours, we changed that.
The 2010 Problem
His site was custom but cluttered with walls of text, repetitive content, and too many colors competing for attention. The WordPress installation had accumulated years of plugins and patches that made simple updates tricky.
The 48-Hour Build
His website goals weren't complicated. Who TCG is, who their clients are, what value they provide. A simple 3 page site. I felt confident we could get it done.
Claude handled the heavy lifting on layout and aesthetic components while I focused on making everything editable for the future. Instead of hardcoded text scattered across files, we used content objects for everything. Three main page.tsx files with all information centralized.
I showed him how to use search to find what he needed to change and how to ask AI for specific guidance when stuck.
I deployed the site and wrote him a guide on how to make changes. git pull, opening a terminal etc. One small bump was that on Vercel free tier his pushes wouldn't trigger a build, you can work around this with creating a Github Action pipeline using your Vercel token.
The Moment Everything Clicked
A few weeks later, Dad noticed something: he and my mother's (their event coordinator) location information was different on the site. In the old world, this would have meant calling me, hiring someone, or just living with the mistake.
Instead, he opened up Cursor and asked where to find the location information. It pointed him to the right content object. He made the change, followed the git guide I had written him and watched his fix go live.
His reaction when it worked: "Wow, that was easy."
Check out his site here: thecaseygroup.us
Why This Matters
This isn't about AI replacing developers or "anyone can code now." It's about something more subtle and more powerful: democratizing small edits.
Squarespace, but for code maintenance. Squarespace didn't eliminate web developers, it gave small business owners the power to manage their own sites. AI is creating a similar layer for people who need just enough technical capability to maintain control over their digital presence.
The current AI hype focuses on "vibe coding" where you describe what you want and AI builds it from scratch. But that's not where the real revolution is happening. It's in these small, specific moments where someone who isn't a developer can make a targeted fix or update without waiting for outside help.
The Real AI Revolution
We're not at the point where my dad can say "make me the perfect website" and get something in one shot (and anyone selling you that is fibbing at best). But we are at the point where he can say "I need to update this phone number, where do I find it?" and get actionable guidance.
This is AI's current superpower: not replacing expertise, but extending it. Making the gap between "I see the problem" and "I can fix the problem" smaller and more manageable. It's the difference between the sci-fi "AI will do everything" narrative and the practical empowerment happening to all of us.
My dad will still call me for the big stuff (we've all experienced Claude blowing up your app). But for the little things, the typos and outdated information that used to pile up for months, he's got it handled.
That shift from dependency to autonomy, even in this small technical domain, changes how he thinks about his business and his relationship with technology.
The real AI revolution isn't about replacing human work. It's about putting more people in control of the digital aspects of their lives, one small edit at a time.