WordPress Fundamentals
Imagine WordPress without a database.
Not changing the kind of database. No database at all. WordPress without the ability to persist data. One could use the filesystem. But how would things like meta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. work? Some particularly clever minds might take this as a challenge and think of something, but WordPress would be fundamentally different.
The funny thing about this mental experiment is that your average WordPress user doesnโt know what a database is, much less the fundamental role it plays within WordPress. Itโs taken for granted. Of course posts save, comments can be made, and settings are stored. Why wouldnโt they?
Even for plugin 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. developers the presence of the database is assumed. No one checks if the database exists before using get_post_meta() or grabbing $wpdb. Entire products are built around the assumption that the database is present. Simpler products store things in meta while more complex products add custom tables. From simple to complex, products utilize the database to unlock incredible possibilities. Itโs safe to say the vast majority of the impressive plugin ecosystem relies on the database.
AI as a Fundamental
What if this were true of AI?
What if, from the end-user to the plugin developer, they could take for granted that thereโs an AI model accessible to me by virtue of being in WordPress? What kinds of things would people use it for? What amazing things would people create that are built on the reliable presence of a capable LLM?
Itโs tempting to think of AI as a feature. Users look at products like ChatGPT or Claude Code and imagine a chat interface. So it may be tempting to imagine WordPress with a chat interface to a powerful LLM that does all sorts of cool things with and for the user. But the idea is not merely that; it is more than that.
Even with the database, there are certain features like saving a post that feel closely tied to the database. But when someone likes a post, theyโre not thinking โIโm saving this likeโ. They just did something and itโs still there. Why wouldnโt it be? With LLMs the chat interface feels close to the model because itโs a direct interaction. But what about features like clicking a โgenerate alt textโ button for an image that just fills in the alt text? In this case, itโs creating an AI-powered feature without it being obvious. And so it should be! When one imagines AI as an engine, humming within WordPress that can be used for anything, then things get even more exciting.
AI Features at WordPress Scale
The most incredible thing about WordPress is its ecosystem. Every single day there are people creating and improving plugins that push the capabilities Aย capabilityย is permission to perform one or more types of task. Checking if a user has a capability is performed by the current_user_can function. Each user of a WordPress site might have some permissions but not others, depending on theirย role. For example, users who have the Author role usually have permission to edit their own posts (the โedit_postsโ capability), but not permission to edit other usersโ posts (the โedit_others_postsโ capability). of WordPress further and further. Each day WordPress grows to be even better.
Imagine if every single developer was empowered with AI capabilities without having to handle the complexities of AI integration. What if the developer just did something like
$$image = Ai_Client::prompt( 'Create an image that beautifully reflects this post content' )
->with_text($post_content)
->generate_image();
Simple as that. Nothing more required to interact with the AI. One could build everything from simple interactive tools to powerful agents. If AI is fundamental to WordPress, and itโs unleashed on the ecosystem, then thereโs simply no competitor that can keep up. (As a note, this code isnโt just an idea, this is real! Itโs the WP AI Client and is proposed for WordPress 7.0!)
To be abundantly clear, this is the bedrock of this vision: In order for AI to truly be a cornerstone of WordPressโ next wave of success, AI has to be a win for the entire ecosystem. To press it further, WordPress is what it is today because of its ecosystem, therefore adoption by the ecosystem is not a nice to have, itโs the most necessary goal. No competitor can possibly keep up with the scale and speed of innovation in the WordPress ecosystem. That is our advantage, and AI can unlock the next stage of innovation.
An ushering strategy
The real challenge, therefore, is how to empower everyone with this capability Aย capabilityย is permission to perform one or more types of task. Checking if a user has a capability is performed by the current_user_can function. Each user of a WordPress site might have some permissions but not others, depending on theirย role. For example, users who have the Author role usually have permission to edit their own posts (the โedit_postsโ capability), but not permission to edit other usersโ posts (the โedit_others_postsโ capability).. At this moment, the most feasible method for integrating with LLMs is through cloud providers such as OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic, or through self-hosted means which is not for the faint of heart. So if a plugin adds a bunch of AI features then they need to either provide the service themselves (e.g. Elementorโs Angie) or send the user off to generate an OpenAI (or whatever) key, come back, and paste it in. In either case thereโs additional complexity and cost, the kinds of which drive away the majority of users. Again, imagine if it was also Bring Your Own Database?
What if hosts brought the AI like they do databases?
If databases were optional in WordPress, then hosts including a database as part of their managed hosting would be a huge competitive advantage. The capabilities and experience of the WordPress site would be substantial. If plugins included AI-powered features, then this same reasoning would flow into hosts that provide the AI model as part of the hosting plan. WordPress would work without AI (an important note), but to a noticeably lesser degree in terms of user value. Hosts even have the choice to determine how they want to solve that problem (proprietary model, proxy, etc.) to play with their own cost-to-value proposition and be competitive.
With this in place, plugin developers would be able to assume that a capable model exists which they can use to power their features. This eliminates the common and substantial pain point for each developer to figure out how to bring a model or get the user to bring their own. Not only does that reduce friction for the user, but it greatly lowers the necessary competency for the developer. Armed with the ability to simply run prompts any time and anywhere, the developer doesnโt need to know more than how to do that and can get back to innovating.
Backwards Compatibility
This is WordPress, so itโs important to acknowledge the need for backwards compatibility. Thereโs a strategy thatโs already in place for this. Within the WP AI Client, it has a system for finding the best model for a given prompt โ based on the needs of the prompt. Itโs quite sophisticated! It also has methods that can be used to check if there is a model available to do the work. This is really important, because it allows the developer to check for the AI before making the assumption.
Imagine a โGenerate Alt textโ button, for example. The developer can use the check methods to conditionally display the button โ present if thereโs a supporting model, and hidden if not. This keeps the plugin working in a backwards compatible way.
As time goes on, ideally the need for these sorts of checks will be reduced, ultimately getting to the point now where databases are truly assumed to be present.
Where the vision meets us
This journey has already begun with the formation of the AI Team in WordPress and the AI Building Block for WordPress was created. For this to succeed, innovation and effort are needed from two communities within the WordPress community:
Developers
Adoption and innovation of the Abilities API An 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. (coming in WP 6.9), WP AI Client (proposed for WP 7.0), and MCP Adapter from developers is critical. Even if youโre not sure about what AI features to make, just using Abilities will make other AI integrations even more capable. Otherwise, thinking outside the chat bot (though thatโs great, too) and imagining what you could do by passing text, images, audios and so forth to AI, and getting back text, images, audios, videos, and embeddings. The upcoming Workflows API will then make it possible to chain together Abilities into truly powerful flows. Imagine publishing a post which triggers a workflow to use AI to summarize its content, send an AI generated email to an audience, and then note its completion in a Slack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/ post.
Really, just do what you do already and make amazing things! To learn more about how this connects to developers and what they can do, read AI for WordPress Developers.
Hosts
As already mentioned, hosts are critical in the distribution of AI models to the ecosystem. By introducing AI in hosting plans, WordPress becomes even more capable simply by including a model, giving a competitive advantage. Hosts can also use this AI within WordPress for doing things like interacting with the customerโs account via MCP. Also think about developers and how to empower them to develop within your environment, possibly offering some access for developers to test their plugin on your platform to make sure it works as intended.
To learn more about how this connects to hosts and what they can do, read AI for WordPress Hosts.
Conclusion
There will be separate posts written specifically for developers and hosts to provide more specific information on what theyโll need to understand to get started. Youโre encouraged to jump into the Making WordPress Slack and reach out in the #core-ai channel with any questions or needs that arise.
AI is an industry shift, quickly becoming a cornerstone of the next generation of technology. For WordPress to grow into the next phase itโs critical that AI become a fundamental part of WordPress itself, and for this to succeed everyone has a role to fulfill.
Props to @annezazu, @jeffpaul for the pre-publish review
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