Today, the WordPress AI team was announced, coinciding with the 22nd birthday of WordPress. We’ve come a long way, and now we need to start thinking about how to approach the future. I am delighted to see this team formed for the simple reason we need this team to help us chart what lies ahead.
Many of us have been involved with WordPress for years, and we have witnessed many anniversaries. However, what brought us to this point won’t carry us into the next decade or even the coming year or months. It’s time for change and adaptation. It’s time to recognise AI as an essential component of the project.
AI today is a reality we can’t escape. It’s a tool we need to learn how to use in our workflows. What we choose to do is our flow and practice. As a project, we need to have options. We need to have a foundation and pieces in place so that people can build, connect and extend. It’s critical not just to the core code but also to the ecosystem. To those who need that foundation to soar and are limited right now. To also attract people to create in this space today.
What this means for some of us discovering, exploring is a lot of listening. Those who are going to lead this effort are those who have explored before us. Everyone is at different points in their AI journey right now and that’s amazing, we get further by helping each other along the way. They are who we can learn from. They are those who want to listen to us. They need us to start building with the tools, exploring and also being curious. This isn’t something we can change with an isolated silo or echo chamber team. It changes us all from a place of listening, experimenting, then asking questions, and iterating together.
What we need to define for the WordPress project is a clear vision of what AI should be. A single company or voice doesn’t determine this vision. It is shaped through collective input and ongoing discussions. It won’t be established in just one post, by a single prompt, or during one meeting. Instead, it’s developed as we engage in the process, starting with initial suggestions, use the tools and then refining our ideas through iterations.
I am excited about the possibilities that lie ahead. This journey is about building and fostering curiosity. I am eager to learn more, as many of us have much to discover. We also have a wealth of knowledge to share from diverse disciplines. By collaborating, we can define what AI can be in WordPress, as well as, perhaps more importantly, what it should not become.