WordPress is exploring how artificial intelligence (AI) can revolutionize web publishing, with insights shared by James LaPage, Head of AI Engineering at Automattic. LaPage, a key member of WordPress’ newly-formed AI team, outlined a vision for integrating AI into WordPress, emphasizing developer tools to allow third-party services and AI systems to connect to the platform without embedding AI functionalities directly into its core.
While competitors like Wix, Duda, Shopify, and Drupal have already integrated AI features, WordPress has been slower to adopt this technology. LaPage believes this cautious approach is justified, given the rapid evolution of AI technologies and the early stages of AI agents that can interact with the web.
“We’re now at a stage where large projects like WordPress, which is crucial to the web, can begin to explore these technologies,” LaPage stated. “It’s an exciting time because the tech behind generative AI has recently reached a point where it allows us to experiment.”
WordPress: The Prospect of AI Integration
Looking ahead, LaPage envisions a future where WordPress becomes the foundational platform for AI agents. The goal is for WordPress to expose tools, content, and interaction features in a way that AI agents can dynamically interact with and utilize.
“If WordPress becomes a tool for AI to access information and build functionality, it will maintain its status as a platform for digital self-expression,” LaPage explained. “With AI making content consumption more dynamic, WordPress will play a key role in preserving an open, expressive digital space.”
LaPage’s team aims to make WordPress more accessible for AI agents to engage with, allowing users to easily interact with and generate content in ways that were previously impossible. He believes AI will help people express themselves digitally, even in ways they may not have thought possible.
AI Innovations: MCP and WordPress Integration
A key part of this vision is the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open protocol standard that will enable WordPress to expose its features to AI agents. The MCP standard allows developers to build systems where AI can interact with WordPress without requiring additional technical packages or installations.
LaPage described MCP as a way to integrate WordPress’ features into the AI ecosystem, allowing AI agents like Claude or Cursor to access and use the platform’s capabilities. He also emphasized the role of WordPress’ Feature API, which will help AI interact with various WordPress plugins and core functionalities in a unified manner.
“This isn’t about reinventing the wheel within WordPress,” LaPage said. “It’s about making the platform’s capabilities accessible to developers and AI agents in a seamless way.”
Community Engagement and Feedback
LaPage also encouraged WordPress users to actively engage with the AI team and contribute to the development of AI features for the platform. He invited the community to participate in feedback discussions through the Make WordPress AI blog and Core AI Slack channels.
He said, “Now is the time to join the conversation. Participate through our Slack channels, blog posts, and our weekly corridor meetings. Together, we can help shape WordPress into a leading platform for the AI-driven web.”
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