Howdy folks! Ever wonder what’s cooking in the mind of the guy who helped create WordPress, Matt Mullenweg? Well, we got a peek into that future recently during an exclusive Q&A session at WordCamp Asia. It was a fascinating chat, covering everything from AI and collaboration to the challenges and surprises the next few years might bring for the platform that powers over 40% of the web. Grab a virtual cup of coffee, because we’re diving deep into Matt’s insights on where WordPress is headed, sprinkled with some candid Q&A moments.
Matt kicked things off reminiscing about past WordCamps, including a unique one in Mindanao, Philippines, back in 2008, complete with a swimming pool audience and a dramatic appearance by thousands of bats – his “Matman story”. This kind of personal touch sets the stage for a conversation that feels less like a corporate roadmap presentation and more like a chat with the community. And that’s exactly what transpired when the questions started rolling in.
One of the hottest topics, no surprise, was Artificial Intelligence. We’ve all seen the explosion of AI tools over the past year, and the question on everyone’s mind is: how will WordPress integrate this powerful technology?
AI: Not In Core, But Called By It
Matt shed some light on WordPress’s approach to AI integration. He believes that the most sophisticated AI models won’t necessarily be embedded directly into the core PHP/JavaScript layer of WordPress. Think of it this way: you won’t find a massive AI brain living inside your WordPress installation file. Instead, the vision is that WordPress will be able to call APIs to utilize these sophisticated models. This makes a lot of sense when you consider that browsers (like Chrome) and operating systems are already talking about embedding smaller AI models directly, and these models can even run on devices like iPhones.
So, if the big AI models are accessed via API, what kind of cool stuff can we expect WordPress to do? Matt sees AI as highly relevant for WordPress users, bringing improvements to existing features and enabling entirely new capabilities. Imagine:
- Next-Gen Editing and Spell Check: Moving beyond basic spell check to tools that can offer more insightful suggestions for improving your writing.
- Real-time Translation: AI could enable visitors to see a website translated into their own language in real-time, making content accessible globally.
- Real-time Transcription: For audio or video content, AI could automatically provide universal closed captions, vastly improving accessibility, much like how auto-captions on platforms like YouTube have gotten “pretty darn good”.
These advancements are seen as great for accessibility, not just for those with traditional accessibility needs, but also for making the web accessible to people of any language.
AI as a Tutor, Not Just a Doer
But the integration isn’t just about adding features. Matt shared some exciting experiments happening on wordpress.com using frontier/SAS models, some of which might even be live already. The really cool part about the approach being tested is that instead of AI simply performing a task for the user, it demonstrates how to accomplish it, helping users learn WordPress simultaneously. This resonated deeply with Matt, who expressed excitement about AI’s potential for personalized education, acting like a personalized tutor to accelerate learning for people of all ages. This aligns perfectly with the inspiring story shared later by a developer who learned WordPress step-by-step online, highlighting the power of self-directed learning facilitated by accessible resources.
Looking Ahead: Multimodal AI and “Leo”
Looking further out, towards 2030, the anticipated progress in AI models is significant. Matt expects these models to become much more multimedia or multimodal. This opens up possibilities like AI-generated content such as personalized video personas acting as tutors, or even creating custom episodes of TV shows based on user prompts. While he jokingly wondered how Star Trek crashing into a Game of Thrones castle might impact learn.wordpress.org content, the underlying idea is the vast potential for AI to generate rich, dynamic, and personalized content.
In the context of traditional web content, Matt noted that AI loves to “read websites”. Publishing quality content can help a site become an “Authority,” with that published text potentially going into the “AI hive mind”. He even introduced the concept of “Leo” (LLM optimization), suggesting that publishing more and higher-quality content could lead to greater inclusion and linking from AI systems. This sounds like a new dimension to content strategy in the age of large language models!
Gutenberg and Real-Time Collaboration
Beyond AI, a major focus remains on the ongoing development of Gutenberg. Matt is particularly excited about the collaboration phase of Gutenberg. The idea is to have real-time co-editing, allowing multiple people to work on a post or even an entire site simultaneously, much like using Google Docs. This will include workflow features, where different roles can edit parts of the site, and then someone else gets a notification to approve the changes. There’s already some “pretty cool” commenting functionality built in, allowing discussions on the side. Matt believes this will “change the experience” and make WordPress feel “very, very modern,” while also avoiding common issues like people writing over each other’s work. He envisions it becoming “very very common” to build a WordPress site by simply loading a page and editing it together with the client in real-time. Very cool indeed.
Adaptability is Key
When asked about the roadmap towards 2030, Matt acknowledged the difficulty of predicting that far out. With the world changing so rapidly, especially with the emergence of AI, being responsive and adaptable is crucial. He quoted the idea that survival isn’t about being the fittest, but the most adaptable to change. While the Gutenberg roadmap has phases, he noted that outside of that, WordPress hasn’t typically had roadmaps extending beyond six months to a year because “the world changes in ways you can’t predict”. This adaptability is seen as vital for the survival of software, just like organisms.
Challenges on the Horizon
It’s not all smooth sailing, of course. Matt highlighted the biggest challenge WordPress will face in the next five years: navigating the rapidly changing and sometimes “weird” technology landscape and staying focused.
Another significant challenge mentioned was the pause in Automattic’s core contributions. Matt explained that this isn’t a desired situation but is due to Automattic having to spend “millions of dollars per month sometimes to defend against these attacks from WP engine,” including court injunctions. He stated it’s hard to be motivated and spare resources for contribution under such circumstances. He noted that Automattic would welcome WP engine back to WordCamps and the community if they stopped the attacks. He emphasized that Automattic can only defend against the legal attacks, not end them, and that they are increasing, even targeting him personally. He stated he can’t resume the full contributions until the lawsuit is over, urging anyone who wants to see those contributions return to put pressure for the lawsuit to end.
User experience challenges were also raised. Issues like excessive plugin notifications cluttering the dashboard and the lack of a centralized way to manage plugin data collection/telemetry settings were discussed. Matt agreed these are problems, noting that while some notifications are critical, many are “promotions,” “coupons,” and “junk”. He sees this “local maximization problem” (where individual plugins benefit from notifications) creating a “mess” that drives people away from WordPress compared to platforms like Wix or Shopify. He suggested potential solutions like a dedicated notification box for less critical messages or even changing the underlying technical hook for notifications in a future WordPress version with stricter guidelines for directory plugins. For data collection, he liked the idea of a single registration page where users could see and manage telemetry settings for all plugins.
Competition from other platforms like Notion, static site generators, Shopify, and Lazada was brought up. Matt acknowledged that these platforms can be good starting points or “gateway drugs”. However, he stressed that WordPress’s key advantage is that it “doesn’t have a ceiling”. While proprietary platforms might be enticing initially, you eventually “hit a ceiling”. With WordPress, it’s “always in your control and you can do anything you imagine” thanks to the flexible plugin and theme system. He believes anything that gets more people publishing on the web is a good thing, and those comfortable with publishing could become future WordPress users if the software remains intuitive for simple tasks and possible for complex ones.
Promoting agencies within Asian countries was also discussed, noting that many clients are currently from the US or Europe. While WordPress itself is a software and community, not a commercial entity for agency promotion, Matt mentioned Automattic has a new program called “Automattic for Agencies” which aims to partner with agencies globally, exploring commercialization and co-promotion opportunities. However, he noted that the expertise for growing in local markets in Asia probably resides more within the community in the room than coming from the US.
Q&A Highlights: Quick Hits from the Floor
The session included a range of other interesting questions, showing the diverse interests of the community. Here are a few more highlights:
- What is Matt Most Excited About? The people in the community (“you can answer it just by looking around the room”), the friendships, the inspiring stories of people going from “Zero to Hero” using WordPress. In the software, he’s very excited about the collaboration phase of Gutenberg.
- Bringing Back WordPress’s Quirkiness/Easter Eggs? Acknowledging the desire for a “jungle gym where people can go and play,” Matt and Matias are discussing bringing back some old Easter eggs (like the Matrix draft comparison) and adding new ones. He suggested ideas like a hidden Gutenberg block that plays the snake game and shows you how it works, or adding personality to the code editor or deeper menus. He noted he “really fought hard” to keep the Hello Dolly plugin in core because it can teach people how easy it is to create a plugin.
- WordPress in 2030? Besides the multimodal AI predictions, he expects WordPress to be past all phases of Gutenberg. However, predicting beyond that is hard because the world keeps changing.
- If WordPress Were a Person? A mix of James Bond and Q – “a really nerdy but pretty cool too”.
- Headless WordPress? Matt noted that many organizations that adopted headless early are now returning to a more traditional “monolithic” WordPress approach for simplicity, easier devops, better performance potential, and better compatibility with the vast plugin ecosystem. He sees headless as appropriate for certain applications like mobile apps. WordPress supports headless with robust API support, including the recent adoption of the GraphQL plugin into core.
- User Directories / Custom User Tables? Matt is “pretty obsessed” with the idea of a “people primitive” for several years. While there’s exploration in WooCommerce and Jetpack CRM, he hasn’t found the “completely right” approach for core yet. He sees potential for powering newsletters, CRM, and personalization, leveraging WordPress’s dynamic nature. He hinted that Automattic is about to announce an acquisition in this space in the next week or so.
- Will WordPress Remain Open Source? A clear and simple “Yes”.
- What Matt Wishes More People Understood About Contributing? “That it’s possible for anyone.” You don’t need fancy education; anyone can learn and contribute. This echoed the earlier story of the developer whose life was changed by learning WordPress.
Wrapping Up
The session painted a picture of a future for WordPress that is both exciting and challenging. AI promises incredible new capabilities, the core editing experience is evolving towards real-time collaboration, and the platform remains committed to being open and adaptable in a rapidly changing technological landscape. While challenges like navigating lawsuits and improving user experience with plugins persist, the underlying strength comes from its open-source nature, its incredible flexibility, and most importantly, its passionate global community.
As Matt said, the next five years are going to be “weird”, but WordPress seems poised to navigate them by focusing on adaptability, leveraging emerging tech like AI through smart integration, and continuing to empower people worldwide to create and publish on the web.
What are your thoughts on this vision? Are you excited about the AI possibilities or the collaboration features? Let us know in the comments!
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