The AI Contributor group met on Wednesday, March 25, 2026, to discuss the upcoming WordPress 7.0 release, progress on the AI Experimentation plugin, and plans for WordCamp Asia.
WordPress 7.0 Release & Schedule
With RC1 released yesterday, the team is shifting focus toward the final stretch of the 7.0 cycle.
- Current Target: The final release remains scheduled for Thursday, April 9, 2026.
- Potential Delays: Discussions regarding real-time collaboration in 7.0 are ongoing. While this shouldn’t delay the final launch, it may impact the timing of RC2. Any official changes will be communicated via Make Core.
- 7.1 Outlook: If the 7.0 window narrows, several items (like advanced connectors filtering) are already being eyed for the 7.1 cycle to ensure they receive proper maturity and testing.
AI Experiments Plugin (v0.6 & v0.7)
Version 0.6.0 is now live, featuring major image editing and refinement capabilities in the post editor and media library.
- Version 0.7.0: Slated for Tuesday, April 7, just ahead of the WordPress 7.0 release. Development may be slightly slower over the next two weeks due to team PTO.
- A lot of potential for including the following (This is from the notes, and @jeffpaul walked us through much of this in the call)
- Onboarding flows as necessary in support of the “Try AI” callout in WordPress 7.0
- Finalize requirements to elevate an Experiment to a Feature and promote first round of features
- Refine from Notes experiment to update post content based on editorial feedback
- AI-specific dashboard widgets
- Content Classification (fka Contextual Tagging) experiment that suggests post tags and categories based on post content, title, and excerpt, helping authors apply consistent, relevant taxonomy directly in the editor
- Meta Description experiment that integrates with several SEO plugins
- Content Resizing experiment
- Content Provenance tracking for text and images via C2PA
- Updating AI Experiments admin screens to utilize DataViews and DataForms
- The “v1.0” Debate: The team discussed whether to jump to a 1.0 release for the WordPress 7.0 launch. The consensus is to maintain the “0.x” numbering for now to allow for breaking changes and experimental flexibility, though a 1.0 might be considered if features feel sufficiently “frozen” and stable.
- New Experiment: Guidelines: Work is beginning on leveraging the new Content Guidelines (from Gutenberg 22.7) to inform text generation, ensuring AI output aligns with site-specific rules.
MCP, WP AI Client, & AI connectors
- Model Context Protocol (MCP): The MCP adapter is moving toward being merged into trunk. A Call for Testing will be published soon. There is an ongoing debate about whether to bundle the MCP experiment directly in the AI plugin or distribute it via a separate library/plugin to avoid composer-related hurdles.
- Naming Conventions: A brief discussion occurred regarding the naming of the
wp_supports_aifunction. Some contributors suggested “allows” instead of “supports” to align with other Core naming patterns. - Call for Testing: A specific call for testing for the AI Provider connector plugins was highlighted. This is a critical piece of infrastructure for cross-plugin AI compatibility.
WordCamp Asia & Contributor Day
The team is preparing for WordCamp Asia (March 6–8, 2026).
- Contributor Day Lead: @raftaar1191 is organizing the AI table, @justlevine will assist online. @isotropic will be attending in a supporting capacity but won’t be leading the table due to travel timing.
- Preparation: The team is finalizing a “Preparation Doc” for contributors and a list of AI providers offering free API tiers (like Google AI Studio’s free tier) to ensure new contributors can test features without cost.
Design & Marketing
- Branding Concerns: New plugin icons and banners featuring a “breaking away” WordPress logo were put on hold. There is concern that the visual could be interpreted as AI “breaking” WordPress, which is not the intended sentiment. We have paused the current design update and seek a more “positive” visual direction. Call for designers here who might feel strongly about the direction we can land on.
- AI Landing Page: @jeffpaul proposed a dedicated
wordpress.org/aimarketing page (similar to the Gutenberg landing page) to showcase the team’s work to non-technical users. This is currently limited by a lack of dedicated design resources.
Decision Points
- Experiment Lifecycle: A new document has been drafted to define how an “Experiment” graduates to a “Feature” within the plugin.
- UI Refresh: Two competing PRs are in progress to modernize the settings page—one using Data Views/Forms and another focusing on a “Connectors” style UI.
Upcoming Meetings
- AI Contributor Meeting (Video): Wednesday, April 1st 2026 at 17:00 UTC.
- AI Team Office Hours (Slack): Thursday, April 2nd 2026 at 17:00 UTC.
Props to @jeffpaul for pre-publish review.