AI 1.2.0 has been released and is available for download! “What’s new in AI…” posts (labeled with the #ai-release tag) are posted following every AI pluginPlugin A 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. release, showcasing new features included in each release.

We’re pleased to announce the release of AI 1.2.0, the latest update to the canonical plugin powering AI-powered features in WordPress. This release introduces a new Suggest Reply experiment, bulk Content Summary generation, and two new read-only Abilities. It also simplifies the plugin’s settings interface and improves Type-ahead Text, Connector Approvals, accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility), and developer extensibility.

What’s new in 1.2.0?

New Experiment: Suggest Reply

AI 1.2.0 introduces a new Suggest Reply experiment for comment moderation. When enabled, comment moderators can generate a contextual reply from the Comments administration screen or the Activity dashboard widgetWidget A WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page. WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user.. Suggestions can incorporate the comment, its parent post, and optional editorial guidelines.

The experiment supports:

• Friendly, professional, and casual reply tones (friendly as default)
• Optional instructions or editorial guidelines
• Inserting the suggestion directly into WordPress’s inline reply form

Generated replies remain suggestions for a moderator to review, edit, and choose whether to publish. This helps sites respond more efficiently while keeping people in control of the conversation.

Generate content summaries in bulk

Content Summarization can now be run across multiple posts or pages from the corresponding list table. After selecting content, users can choose the new Generate Summary bulk action. WordPress processes the selected items and creates or updates their AI-generated summaries without requiring each item to be opened individually in the editor.

This makes Content Summarization more practical for established sites that want to add summaries to an existing content library.

New core/read-content AbilityAbility A registered, self-documenting unit of WordPress functionality that can be discovered and invoked through multiple contexts (REST API, Command Palette, MCP). Includes authorization and input/output specifications.

AI 1.2.0 adds a new core/read-content Ability, providing structured, read-only access to WordPress content through the Abilities APIAbilities API A core WordPress API (introduced in 6.9) that creates a central registry of capabilities, making WordPress functions discoverable and accessible to AI agents, automation tools, and developers. Transforms WordPress from isolated functions into a unified system.. The default response remains intentionally lean, while permissions and per-post access checks determine which content and fields are available.

The Ability supports:

• Retrieving a single post by ID
• Retrieving a single post by post type and slug
• Querying collections of posts
• Filtering by status, author, parent, or included post IDs
• Pagination and field selection
• Explicit opt-in access to heavier or raw content fields

This provides a useful foundation for assistants, agents, automation tools, and other integrations that need to securely discover and read WordPress content.

New core/read-users Ability

This release also introduces the core/read-users Ability. It can retrieve a single user by ID, email address, login, or nicename, or return a filtered and paginated collection of users. Collection queries can be filtered by role, published content, included user IDs, and other supported fields. Lean fields are returned by default. Sensitive identifiers and fields must be explicitly requested and remain protected by WordPress permissions.

Together, core/read-content, core/read-users, and the previously introduced core/read-settings Ability expand the plugin’s reference implementation for permission-aware access to WordPress data.

Simpler settings with optional advanced controls

AI 1.2.0 reorganizes configuration options to make the primary settings experience more approachable. A new Advanced settings option is available from the Developer Tools menu. It is disabled by default, leaving each Feature or Experiment with its primary on/off control.

When Advanced settings are enabled, additional options such as providerProvider An AI service offering models for generation, embeddings, or other capabilities (e.g., Anthropic, Google, OpenAI). selection, model selection, taxonomyTaxonomy A taxonomy is a way to group things together. In WordPress, some common taxonomies are category, link, tag, or post format. https://codex.wordpress.org/Taxonomies#Default_Taxonomies. strategies, or suggestion limits become available where supported. This keeps common configuration focused while preserving detailed controls for developers and advanced site administrators.

Clearer Connector Approval guidance

When Connector Approvals are enabled but no AI connectors have been approved, the plugin now displays an inline notice explaining that the AI plugin must be approved before it can use an AI provider connector.

Previously, administrators might not discover the missing approval until they attempted to use an AI feature and encountered an error. The new notice makes the required action visible while configuring the plugin.

Type-ahead Text improvements

The Type-ahead Text experiment received several refinements in this release:

• Type Ahead assets no longer load on the site’s front end.
• Dismissing a suggestion with the Escape key no longer immediately triggers another request.
• Ghost text placement has been improved.
• Stale suggestions no longer overlap placeholders in empty blocks.

Accessibility and workflow refinements

Additional interface and workflow improvements include:

• Keyboard focus is restored more reliably after saving AI settings.
• AI Home feature-card images now include descriptive alternative text for screen reader users.
• Content Summary detection now works when the blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. is nested inside another block.
• Initial settings are registered before core/read-settings creates its settings snapshot.
• Explicit show_in_abilities values are respected while remaining compatible with future WordPress coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. support.

These changes continue the project’s focus on making AI workflows predictable, accessible, and compatible with evolving WordPress APIs.

Developer and extensibility updates

AI 1.2.0 introduces the wp_ai_client_default_request_timeout filterFilter Filters are one of the two types of Hooks https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks. They provide a way for functions to modify data of other functions. They are the counterpart to Actions. Unlike Actions, filters are meant to work in an isolated manner, and should never have side effects such as affecting global variables and output., allowing developers to customize the timeout used for long-running AI client requests. This release applies the filter to image generation only, while exposing it for application to other features in the future. The default remains 90 seconds, but sites using slower providers or infrastructure can now increase or otherwise adjust that value.

The release also includes end-to-end test improvements, pinned npm dependencies, updated WordPress UIUI UI is an acronym for User Interface - the layout of the page the user interacts with. Think ‘how are they doing that’ and less about what they are doing. packages, new and updated screenshots, and documentation describing how contributors can become plugin maintainers.

What’s next in 1.3.0?

Work is already underway on additional Features, Experiments, and infrastructure improvements planned for 1.3.0 and future releases, including:

• Updated Experiment: Integrate Refine from Notes with Real-time Collaboration
• New Abilities: core/read-nav-menus and core/manage-settings
• New Experiment: Content Translations
• New Experiment: Integrate with Gutenberg’s experimental Media Editor including focus-aware crop suggestions
• New Developer Tool: Role and User access controls
• New Developer Tool: Settings import/export
• New Experiment: Promoted AI Provider Connectors
• New Experiment: Content Provenance tracking for text and images via C2PA while detecting C2PA manifests on upload

These concepts are still exploratory, but they help test how AI could support real workflows across WordPress.

Thanks to contributors!

A big thank you to everyone who contributed to this release, including:

@dkotter, @jeffpaul, @ankitkumarshah, @prasadkarmalkar, @gautam23, @justinjiajia, @jorgefilipecosta, @gziolo, @peterwilsoncc, @ovidiu-galatan, @justlevine, @jasonbahl, @prototipo88, @ishitaj34, @psykro, @intenzi, @yogeshbhutkar, @monzuralam, @sohampate1, @htperkins, @vedantere, @pablodiloreto, and others involved in review, testing, and 34 commits across 105 files between 1.1.0 and 1.2.0. Your help and feedback are what make these Features and Experiments possible.

A similar thank you to translators assisting from the Czech, English (UK), Danish, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish (Chile), Spanish (Spain), Turkish, and Vietnamese locales ensuring language packs are available for users. Translating the AI plugin is a great contribution and others contributing in this manner is very much welcome and appreciated!

Get involved

As always, we welcome feedback, testing, and contributions from the community. Whether you are interested in editor UXUX UX is an acronym for User Experience - the way the user uses the UI. Think ‘what they are doing’ and less about how they do it., APIs, accessibility, performance, or AI ethics and policy, there are many ways to participate.

You can explore the 1.2.0 release today, review open issues and pull requests, and help shape what comes next.

Props to @mikeyarce @nikskyverge for reviewing this post.

#ai-experiments, #ai-features, #ai-plugin, #ai-release, #canonical-plugins, #core-ai