The year 2024 has reshuffled the cards of the web on several simultaneous fronts. Between a European regulatory framework that imposes itself on marketing teams, mobile usage that crushes desktop, and conversational AI tools that change the way users search for information, the digital landscape has shifted faster than in previous years. This article reviews the most significant movements for web professionals, from development to web design.
EU AI Act: the regulation that changes the rules of the game for websites
The Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 on artificial intelligence came into effect on August 1, 2024, with a gradual rollout of obligations until 2027. The legal constraints that accompany the adoption of AI on the web deserve as much attention as the expected productivity gains.
This text imposes a transparency obligation for several AI systems used on the web: chatbots, generated or manipulated content (images, audio, video), deepfakes, and certain texts intended for the public. Practices deemed unacceptable (subliminal manipulation, exploitation of minors’ vulnerabilities, social scoring by public actors) will be banned starting February 2025.
For marketing teams and web developers, the consequence is direct. Any company deploying a chatbot, a recommendation system, or an AI-powered campaign optimization tool becomes a “deploying entity” under the regulation, with obligations for documentation and mapping of the tools used. Specialized monitoring, such as that published on journal-du-web.be, allows tracking of these regulatory developments as they are implemented.
Some agencies have already begun an audit of their AI tools, while others are waiting for national implementing decrees before taking action. The uncertainty regarding actual penalties hinders proactive compliance.
Web design and mobile experience: what the 2024 figures confirm
94% of French households have an Internet connection in 2024, according to Médiamétrie. The average time spent online reaches 2 hours and 40 minutes per day, compared to 2 hours and 6 minutes five years earlier.
The standout fact remains the dominance of mobile. 80% of the time spent online is done via mobile devices, and nearly all of that time is dedicated to applications. For developers and web designers, this reality imposes concrete technical choices:
- Responsive design is no longer an option but an absolute prerequisite for SEO and user retention
- Images must be optimized for variable mobile connections, with formats like WebP or AVIF that reduce file size without sacrificing visual quality
- User journeys must be designed “thumb-first”: wide clickable areas, simplified navigation, short forms
The web design of 2024 is not just an aesthetic question. It is a constant balancing act between technical performance and user experience, where every millisecond of loading time counts.
Conversational AI and the evolution of search behaviors
The rise of conversational AI tools has changed the way users query the web. Queries are becoming longer, more natural, framed as complete questions rather than strings of keywords. This shift has direct consequences on site development and content strategies.
Search engines now integrate AI-generated answers directly into their results. For site publishers, this means that a portion of the traffic that used to come through a click to their page is captured upstream. This trend is documented by several industry observatories, although the precise extent of this traffic loss remains to be quantified.
At the same time, online media are holding their ground against social networks in the information arena. News sites maintain a significant audience, driven by the search for verified sources in a context where the reliability of AI-generated content remains uncertain.
Cybersecurity and user trust in 2024
The proliferation of AI tools on the web is accompanied by a rise in cybersecurity risks. Deepfakes, now regulated by the EU AI Act, pose a concrete problem for sites hosting user-generated content.
Transparency about the origin of content becomes a trust criterion for visitors. Sites that clearly indicate when a text or image has been produced by AI gain credibility, unlike those that maintain ambiguity.
For developers, this translates into new technical components to integrate:
- Watermarking systems for AI-generated images, compliant with future European regulation requirements
- Explicit mentions on chatbots (“you are interacting with an automated assistant”), mandatory for AI deployers
- Strengthening authentication protocols, especially for applications that handle personal data
These requirements are not just regulatory. They reflect a growing expectation from users, who prioritize security and transparency as deciding factors between two competing sites.
The year 2024 marks a turning point where technology, law, and usage converge. Web professionals who integrate the constraints of the EU AI Act, mobile-first standards, and new expectations for transparency now are positioning themselves on a stronger foundation than those who wait to see how the market evolves.
