Share your ideas about AI in WordPress – we want to hear from you
This is just the beginning. Whether you’re an engineer, designer, researcher, or just curious about AI, we’d love to have you involved as we shape the future of AI in WordPress.
What’s Next
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing: meeting schedules and format, the initial team roadmap, contribution guidelines, and more.
Team Members
Felix Arntz @flixos90 (co-Team RepTeam RepA Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, make sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts.) – Google
James LePage @isotropic (co-Team Rep) – Automattic
This is a summary of a Hallway Hangout that was first announced on Make AI. The aim was to have a shared space where we could chat about the new AI team, learn about the current team members, hear about current projects, and start to get community input. Thank you to the nearly 30 people who joined, including the AI team (@jeffpaul@swissspidy@isotropic@flixos90).
Video Recording:
Notes
Team Introductions
Jeff Paul: Director of Open SourceOpen SourceOpen Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. at Fueled; longtime WordPress contributor since 2016; focused on product leadership and practical AI integrations like the ClassifAI pluginPluginA plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party.
Pascal Birchler: CoreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. contributor and committer, sponsored by Google; expertise in internationalization, performance, and client-side AI; exploring privacy-focused, on-device AI implementations.
Felix Arntz: Core contributor for 10 years with a focus on APIAPIAn API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly defined ways. design; created the AI Services plugin to abstract AI provider APIs; sponsored by Google.
James LePage: AI Lead at Automattic; previously ran WPAI, developing AI solutions like CodeWP and AgentWP; extensive experience in WordPress development and AI integration.
Team approach
Transparency
Conduct open discussions via the make.wordpress.orgWordPress.orgThe community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org//AI, GitHubGitHubGitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/, and SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/..
Publish clear roadmaps, documentation, and updates to keep the community informed.
Focus on Canonical Plugins
Prioritize building foundational tools and plugins outside of core to enable rapid iteration and experimentation.
Avoid premature core integration to maintain flexibility and adaptability.
Community-First Collaboration
Foster regular engagement through hallway hangouts, Slack discussions, and blog posts.
Encourage widespread community involvement to shape AI initiatives and contributions.
Developer Enablement
Build APIs, services, tools, and guidelines that empower developers to create AI-enhanced features.
Provide abstraction layers to support multiple AI providers and avoid vendor lock-in.
Measured Progress
Strive for concrete, focused deliverables that provide clear benefits to the WordPress ecosystem.
Balance innovation with pragmatism to ensure sustainable and practical AI implementations.
Iterative Development
Use canonical plugins and packages to test concepts, gather feedback, and refine ideas before potential core integration.
Adapt to the rapidly changing AI landscape while maintaining WordPress’s core philosophies.
High level overview of Current Initiatives
AI Services Plugin: Provides an abstraction layer for multiple AI providers, enabling plugin authors to use a unified API for AI interactions.
MCP WP: Implements Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers in WordPress, enabling advanced AI integrations via command-line or plugins.
WP Feature API: Structures WordPress features for better AI interaction, offering a standardized way to register resources for AI use.
Q&A
How does someone join the team, or is it only the four initial people?
The team is still forming. The best way to get involved is by joining discussions in the #core-ai Slack channel, participating in blog posts on make.wordpress.org/ai, and attending hallway hangouts. A roadmap and handbook will clarify how others can contribute going forward.
Are there any short-term objectives the team is focusing on?
The team is in the forming stage, focusing on foundational building blocks and defining deliverables through community discussions. Immediate next steps include WordCampWordCampWordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Europe discussions, publishing notes, and continuing structured conversations in Slack.
Is there any plan to integrate WordPress core with LLM in the future?
There are no immediate plans to integrate LLMs directly into WordPress core. The team will focus on canonical plugins and packages that abstract AI provider APIs (e.g., like how AI Services does in its current plugin form). Core integration could be considered in the distant future if technical and philosophical limitations are resolved.
Could you talk about integrating with external AI models like OpenAI, Claude, and Google?
The AI Services plugin provides a unified abstraction layer for multiple AI providers, allowing developers to interact with various models without vendor lock-in. The team aims to support multiple providers while ensuring flexibility and user choice.
Will there be a standardized interface for AI data interaction?
Yes. Efforts like the AI Services plugin aim to create a middleware that standardizes interactions between AI providers and WordPress plugins. This ensures developers can easily swap providers while maintaining a consistent interface.
What is the mission and why launch the team now?
The mission is to build foundational building blocks for AI integration in WordPress. The timing is ideal due to the rapid evolution of AI, emerging standards like MCP, and the need to position WordPress as a central platform in the AI-driven web.
How do we know the team has succeeded in 12–24 months?
Success will include delivering concrete projects, such as canonical plugins and packages, increasing community involvement, and positioning WordPress as a leader in AI for the open web.
Where is the line drawn between building integrations for core versus plugins?
The focus is on canonical plugins and packages rather than core integration. WordPress avoids vendor lock-in and paid provider integrations by default. Future core integration may depend on emerging standards for AI APIs and user control over AI functionality.
Could AI eventually build or replace entire plugins?
The focus is on making WordPress a framework for AI-enhanced functionality rather than replacing existing plugins. AI can already assist in building plugins, but fully replacing robust plugins with consistent updates, support, and security is unlikely.
Will canonical plugins or packages be embeddable in plugins?
Yes. Composer packages could allow developers to embed functionality from canonical plugins without requiring direct dependencies. This approach supports flexibility for plugin developers.
How much does WordPress leadership support this team?
The team has full support from WordPress leadership, including Matt Mullenweg and Mary Hubbard. They recognize the importance of AI for the open web and the need to ensure WordPress remains central in this evolving landscape.
Are there thoughts on how core can support RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation)?
While there are no immediate plans, the team is exploring all AI possibilities at this point. A vector database plugin or similar features could be considered in the future. Current efforts focus on creating building blocks for developers to integrate AI functionality effectively.
