The «Word on the Future: AI for WordPress» online event on May 25, 2023 was kicked-off by Human Made, CEO Tom Willmott. It focused on the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in WordPress. Noting a recent surge in AI innovation, he compared it to previous technological shifts, like the advent of mobile, social media, and cloud computing. Tom highlighted the opportunity for WordPress to adapt to these changes and improve its platform.
The event included discussions on AI-powered features and products, presentations from various speakers from different companies who are using AI to enhance their WordPress services, and reflections on the future of WordPress in light of AI.
Tom also announced that Human Made, known for their belief in the power of open-source and the value of the WordPress ecosystem, has been exploring these questions about AI in WordPress through internal R&D and collaborations with their clients. The event also showcased some of this R&D work, with Human Made CTO and co-founder Joe Hoyle demonstrating the new capabilities brought about by integrating AI into WordPress which we summarize in this article.
Joe began his presentation by providing a quick primer on artificial intelligence (AI) and its various subfields, with a specific focus on generative AI. He explained that generative AI, such as image generation models and large language models like ChatGPT, have seen significant advancements and adoption in the past year.
Party Trick or Super Intelligent?
He discussed the spectrum of beliefs regarding the capabilities of AI, ranging from considering it a mere party trick to perceiving it as already super intelligent. He acknowledged that while large language models can generate impressive and coherent content, they lack inherent logic and may produce hallucinated facts or biased information due to the biases in the training data. He emphasized that AI is best utilized in a supervised context where it can assist with idea generation and provide help, as fully autonomous AI systems may encounter difficulties due to inaccuracies and biases.
Regarding the implementation of AI in product solutions, Joe explained that there is a spectrum of depth in understanding AI, ranging from using APIs to train your own models and even programming neural networks. He drew a parallel to website development, where one doesn’t need to understand the underlying technology stack at the deepest level to build websites using platforms like WordPress.
Open Source in AI
Joe touched on the topic of open source in AI, noting that many state-of-the-art AI models are proprietary and closed source, which can pose a challenge for aligning with the open-source philosophy of WordPress. However, he highlighted that the open source space is progressing well, with notable releases of open source AI models, such as Meta’s LLaMA. Smaller open source models are also emerging, making it easier for individuals to self-host and run AI capabilities. Joe expressed optimism that open source AI models can be integrated into WordPress in the future to assist with specific tasks.
Joe demonstrated some impressive AI capabilities that Human Made has been experimenting with. Overall, his presentation focused on the potential of AI in WordPress, the current state of AI technologies, the need for caution when using large language models, and the possibilities offered by open source AI models in the WordPress ecosystem.
You can watch all presentations from the «Word on the Future: AI for WordPress» event on YouTube. I’ll leave you with the following panel discussion moderated by Remkus de Vries with Pantheon co-founder Josh Koenig, Modern Tribe president Shane Pearlman, Automattic product wrangler Anne McCarthy and Automattic code wrangler Daniel Walmsley.
Credits and More
- Main picture of Zürich Airport by Erez Attias
- This article was created using human and artificial 🤖 intelligence
- Human Made Blog: Reflecting on AI for WordPress
- Openstream Blog: The Power of Open Source
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