The WordPress AI Builder Said WHAT?!

By Editorial staff

April 22, 2025

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Read to the end to see a masterpiece by a medieval artist who has definitely seen an elephant before.

In today’s edition:

WordPress 6.8 is like avant-garde jazz piano: mostly improvisation with just enough form to keep you from panicking.
What happens when you ask AI to make your plumbing business website funnier.
Some head-scratching WordPress questions that will ignite heated Slack debates and existential crises.

Hot Off The Presses: What’s New?

Once upon a time, connecting to the internet sounded like a robot having a panic attack in a blender. And we, brave fools, took it as a sign of progress.

And now we live in a world where AI builds websites with the personality of a wet sock, plugin pricing debates turn into mini TED Talks on economic justice and accessibility is still treated like a feature, not a basic requirement.

If only we’d listened to the screams.

ANYWAY… Here’s what’s new in WordPress this fortnight.

Hellooooooo 6.8! “Cecil” Is Ready To Rock

Cue the freeform jazz piano. WordPress 6.8, lovingly nicknamed after avant-garde piano legend Cecil Taylor, has officially dropped. Since it’s likely the only major release of WordPress we’ll be seeing this year, we may as well take a good look at what Cecil has to offer.

If you’re building with WordPress as a serious dev platform, 6.8 gives you more power, more structure, and better UX for clients. It’s not flashy, but it’s solid. Here are a few intriguing little tweaks that might improve your workflow:

Design Tools Extended to More Blocks

Several Core blocks received sorely-needed design tool updates, giving you more consistency in your block styling options. Check out the roster of design tools per block to learn more.

Organize your Custom Patterns in Subfolders

Untangle the spaghetti that is your patterns files and organize them into sub-folders. Keep header patterns with header patterns, footer patterns with footer patterns and so on. Ahhh… so clean and tidy!

Style Book Support for Classic Themes

Finally. Now you can use the Style Book when a classic theme is enabled, which means more sites can benefit from this visual editing tool.

Better Buttons Block, Baby!

The Buttons block has been zhuzhed up with box-sizing: border box applied, so that its size will match other blocks when padding and background color are applied. It’s a tiny tweak that makes a big difference.

This update is the quiet game-changer we’ve been waiting for. More power, more control, and less headache for developers. You can explore more juicy details here: The Developer’s Guide to WordPress 6.8

So, what’s your verdict? Are you diving into these updates like a kid in a candy store, or are you left wanting more?

The New WordPress AI Site Builder: Kinda Cool or a Waste of Time?

Alright, alright… we’ve gotta talk about it. It’s the uncanny medieval elephant in the room: The new WordPress AI Site Builder.

In case you missed it, WordPress.com has launched an AI-powered site builder aimed at users who want a quick, easy way to build a site without needing to know a single line of code.

According to their marketing, it’s the “easiest way to start a website,” which is true if your goal is a vaguely professional-looking homepage built on vibes, Lorem Ipsum and 30 free AI prompts.

Matt Medeiros from WPMinute gave it a spin and seemed genuinely impressed, though even he side-eyed the AI-generated color choices, which were, let’s say aggressive.

The AI will also help you write your content, which is fantastic if your brain is burnt out and you black out every time you look at an empty text box, I suppose. Want a funny tagline? “We make your leaks our laughs” is what it came up with for Matt’s pretend plumbing business, “Unstuck Plumbing.” Truly top-tier comedy genius stuff. 👏🙄

Illustration of a van labeled 'Unstuck Plumbing – We make your leaks our laughs,' created as a funny AI-generated tagline example in WordPress.com’s new AI Site Builder.

Not everyone, however, is a huge fan of the AI site builder:

When Amanda Smith from Cnet tried it, she deemed it a “waste of time” and a “big fat no.”
Digital Consultant Warren Laine-Naida gave it a resounding “no thank you,” and wants a better Media Library instead.
Webmaster Andrew Hoyer thinks it’s “literally the last thing we need,” especially when other improvements could be made.

As Neel Shivdasani, Automattic’s AI Product Lead, explained in the launch post, this tool isn’t meant to replace manual editing completely anytime soon. It’s meant to be something that helps folks with no coding skills get online, fast.

But let’s be honest. This toy might be kinda fun to play with, but it’s not replacing the skill of a real web designer anytime soon.

HOT TAKE TIME

The AI Site Builder is:
A: Cool & convenient
B: Meh, not for pros
C: Utter chaos. Send help.

Comment with your opinion!

Some Thought-Provoking Conversations Worth Having

Sure, we love a good meme and a fun new plugin as much as the next newsletter, but sometimes the WordPress world gets philosophical. We’re talking big ideas, real challenges, and the occasional existential crisis.

From accessibility to the future of the web, these are the questions that make us pause, squint into the middle distance, and say, “Hmmmm…”

Should you charge users in developing countries less for plugins? When the cost of a plugin equals nearly half-a-year’s income in Pakistan, Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) pricing becomes a serious consideration.
Are we ignoring the power of open standards in favor of convenience? Sure, quick solutions are nice, but at what cost? If we keep prioritizing shortcuts and proprietary tools, are we sacrificing the long-term health of the WordPress ecosystem? Listen to Aaron D. Campbell’s take on why open standards matter for WordPress.
Are you emotionally prepared to delete that code you worked hard on? This article by Milana Cap challenges you to not be too precious about your code and find joy in the process, so you can be more open to learning from experimentation.
What’s the real cost of inaccessible eCommerce? If your site isn’t accessible, you’re actively turning away paying customers. So why is accessibility still seen as a cost center instead of a conversion booster? This convo with Bet Hannon will flip your perspective.
Will websites even still exist in a few years? This conversation is worth a listen if you’re in the web development, WordPress or agency space.

Feel free to share your spiciest takes on these questions with us – we’d love to hear what you think.

Mind Bloggling Facts & Stats

According to the results of The Admin Bar’s 2025 Survey, 57.3% of y’all are like, “I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords…” (That’s the percentage who answered, “embracing it” when asked, “What is your relationship with AI in your agency?”) (Source)
Wanna guess what Wordfence discovered was the most common access requirement to exploit vulnerabilities in 2024? Contributor-level access. It accounted for a staggering 34% of all vulnerabilities disclosed! (Source)
Speaking of vulnerabilities, a recently spotted SureTriggers vulnerability has put more than 100,000 websites at risk. Update the plugin to version 1.0.79 or later – even if it’s inactive but still installed. (Source)