Location: #core-ai Slack Channel
The team discussed what AI features to build first for a new experimental plugin specifically for WordPress 6.9. They agreed to start with basic but useful features like automatically writing content summaries, suggesting post titles, and creating descriptions for images. The plugin will work with different AI services (whether they run in the browser, in the cloud, or locally on the user’s computer). The main goals are to show WordPress users how helpful AI can be, make it easy for developers to add AI features, and allow advanced users to connect their own AI services. The team wants to focus on a few high-impact features rather than trying to do too much at once.
Proposed Core Features for WordPress 6.9
@jeffpaul suggested these “essential” AI functionalities for a modern CMS:
- Title rewriting
- Excerpt generation
- Alt text generation
- Image generation
- Content summarization
- Contextual tagging
Plugin Goals and Strategy
@jason_the_adams outlined three primary goals for the experimental plugin:
- Present the value of AI-powered features within WordPress
- Show devs how easy it is to add AI-powered features without having to deeply understand AI (low bar for implementors)
- Give advanced devs the ability to add their own provider/model integrations and experiment with how that can work
@jason_the_adams emphasized focusing on features with high success rates, citing summarization as a strong example and noting that image generation can be challenging since “it can be oddly hard to get AI to make an image just right.”
Technical Implementation Considerations
Editor Integration
The primary focus will be on the block editor integration (@jeffpaul). @namithjawahar advocated for including at least one classic editor example, stating “a direct rest api based implementation in any of the non gutenberg screens will serve that demo purpose.”
Provider Flexibility
@jeffpaul stated the plugin would leverage the PHP AI Client to support local-, browser-, and cloud-based providers. @swissspidy noted that many features could be implemented with on-device AI, referencing https://github.com/swissspidy/ai-experiments.
Specific Feature Suggestions
More suggestions were made grouped roughly into the following sections.
Quality of Life Improvements
@karmatosed proposed several “AI-housekeeping” features:
- Image ‘fixing and cleaning’ (auto-cropping, improve image quality for poorly sized uploads)
- ‘Fix my tags’ and clean up categories
- Simple ‘fix uncategorized’ categories with proper suggestions
Admin Interface Features
- AI generated title in the quick edit section (@@namithjawaha)
- AI generated Site Title and Tag line (@namithjawaha)
- Duplicate/near-duplicate image search (@roninrob)
- Featured image generation for posts (@namithjawahar)
Core Feature Set
@jason_the_adams proposed focusing on:
- Chat UI (using Abilities API) to get the agent experience
- Post-type feature such as summary and text revision
- Image interpretation by generating alt-text for an image
He stated: “I honestly don’t think we need too much more than that to start.”
User Interface Approach
There was disagreement about chat interfaces. @jason_the_adams supported their value, while @karmatosed said “I’m personally less keen on chat as I think people are moving past chat interfaces,” specifically referring to “a box with a chat and scroll.” @karmatosed clarified that “Prompts are awesome, it’s chats as a whole are being moved beyond.”
Plugin Ecosystem and Building Blocks Approach
@karmatosed emphasized: “This is just ‘one plugin’ We all can explore and create our own.” @James LePage agreed, stating “That’s the point of Building Blocks.”
@isotropic noted the plugin could showcase WordPress’s AI future, inspiring use of upcoming features like the new admin design and collaboration features.
AI Implementation Architecture
Local vs External Processing
@euthelup questioned whether features like summaries and title suggestions are “low hanging fruit” for a PHP AI client requiring external services, noting that Chrome’s Built-in AI will eventually handle these tasks locally.
Multi-Provider Support
@jeffpaul confirmed support for “browser-, cloud-, and local-based options for the service provider.”
Technical Architecture Clarification
@jason_the_adams clarified the PHP AI Client design: “the PHP AI Client is intended to be a singular interface for all the AI features. Whether that’s from the browser, the cloud, or whatever, these are all considered provider/models that can power things. But the implementation of these (i.e. an AI-powered feature) is actually (ideally for the majority) decoupled from any specific model. You say, ‘please summarize this content’ and don’t care which model is used. It just works!”
Browser Integration Context
@namithjawahar mentioned existing Firefox ChatGPT integration but noted that “having the same features in the CMS will still have its own place as a proof of concept of what more is possible.”
@isotropic highlighted WordPress-specific advantages: “What it won’t allow you to do is leverage other functions on WordPress, like pulling in other relevant posts to better inform that summary, having user meta store how the generations should occur, etc.”
User Experience Philosophy
@jeffpaul emphasized native WordPress integration to avoid users having “to jump out to other tabs or screens or apps to complete a task.”
Future Considerations
Admin Redesign Impact
@isotropic referenced upcoming WordPress admin changes (https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/70913). @karmatosed expressed reluctance about classic editor integration due to the admin redesign: “I would want dust to settle on the new paint.”
Implementation Philosophy
@karmatosed identified “an awesome split: Small, quality of life benefits, Big showcase things.”
Meeting Conclusion
@jeffpaul encouraged continued discussion through AI chat summary posts, the channel, or GitHub issues/discussions. The next AI chat is scheduled for 2 weeks later.