Companies depend on open source software. Supporting the projects that support your business shouldn’t be treated as charity; it should be part of sustaining the infrastructure, ecosystem, and user trust your products rely on.
The post Open Source Support Can’t Depend on Charity appeared first on Aaron D. Campbell.
AI is evolving super fast, boosting productivity but also causing burnout and a loss of human touch. We need to balance tech with authentic human insights.
Welcome to the June edition of WPBeginner Spotlight! If there is one story this month, it’s AI becoming more integrated into WordPress.
With the new WordPress Abilities API catching on fast, your favorite plugins are letting assistants like Claude and ChatGPT actually do the work on your site. They can build your forms, fix your SEO, and run your campaigns now, not just tell you what to change.
There is plenty more beyond AI, too: leaner databases, unlimited image compression, affordable translation into 110+ languages, and a first look at WordPress 7.1.
Let’s dig into the tools, updates, and community news affecting WordPress users this month.
WPBeginner Spotlight is your monthly roundup of important WordPress news and community updates.
Do you have an announcement? From product debuts to major updates or upcoming events, submit your details via our contact form for a chance to be featured in our upcoming issue!
WPForms now allows external AI assistants like Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and Gemini to actively build and edit forms on your website.
Earlier, the plugin introduced capabilities that allowed AI to read and understand existing form entries. Now, the development team has rolled out complete write support with a hands-free, conversational approach to form creation.
This workflow saves site owners, marketers, and developers time by eliminating manual setup steps.
Here is a look at what this new AI integration can do for your website:
To access this feature, users just need to update to WPForms version 1.10.2 and connect their dashboard to WPVibe, which is a free Model Context Protocol (MCP) server created by SeedProd.
Once the plugin is linked to a preferred AI client, administrators simply need to toggle the write access setting to begin issuing commands.
Because this technology relies on an open WordPress standard, users are never locked into a single AI assistant or closed ecosystem.
Plus, this core integration is completely free and works with eight fundamental field types in WPForms Lite.
Managing a WordPress site usually means a lot of clicking. You log in, open menus, and do everything by hand.
WPVibe changes that, and it just got much easier to start using. It is a beginner-friendly MCP server for WordPress, which is a secure bridge that connects your favorite AI chat to your self-hosted site.
WPVibe is now live in the ChatGPT directory. Anyone using the ChatGPT app can connect their site in one click.
There is no setup headache and no password to manage. You authorize the connection, and your AI starts working on your site.
Once connected, your AI can manage content, upload media, and inspect plugins. It can also run WP-CLI commands and build full pages, all through conversation.
Best of all, WPVibe is not tied to ChatGPT. It works with any MCP client, including Claude, Claude Code, and Cursor.
For more details, see our complete WPVibe review with detailed instructions.
Duplicator, a popular WordPress backup and migration plugin, released their new DB Optimizer plugin.
Your WordPress database fills up with junk over time. Old revisions, expired transients, orphaned data, and spam comments all pile up, making your backups bigger and your migrations slower.
DB Optimizer now gives you a safe way to see how cluttered your database is. And you can clean it up without touching any SQL.
The standout feature is a live health score from 0 to 100. It rates the real trouble spots on your database.
That includes Table Overhead, Transients (temporary cached data WordPress is supposed to delete but often doesn’t), Revisions, Autoload Size (data loaded on every page view), and Trash Items. Each one gets a color-coded grade, so problems are easy to spot.
From there, the Cleanup tab groups everything into clear categories. You see Posts & Pages, Comments, and Transients & Cache.
A summary bar shows how many items you can remove. It also shows how much space you will reclaim before anything is deleted.
You stay in full control of what goes and what stays. So there is no fear of deleting something you still need.
For anyone who backs up or migrates, this is the real payoff. A leaner database means smaller backups and faster transfers.
DB Optimizer is free in the Duplicator Pro and Elite plans or available standalone from $29 per year.
WordPress.org just kicked off a major security initiative called Protect The Shire.
The goal is simple: Make all 78,000+ plugins and themes in the directory as secure as possible.
Before this change, each new plugin release would go live as soon as the developer hit the update button. That openness is part of what makes the directory thrive. However, it also leaves little room for review.
For you, the practical change is this: each new plugin release will now wait up to 24 hours before going out through auto-updates.
That pause gives the WordPress team time to review changes. It even has a new Wapuu helper named Gandalf on the job.
AI bots will handle a depth of review that was not realistic before. And the 24-hour window may shrink to minutes as the system matures.
Overall, this means safer auto-updates with very little downside. The plugins you rely on get an extra layer of checking before they reach your site.
All in One SEO just shipped one of its biggest releases yet. One of the most popular WordPress SEO plugins is leaning hard into AI features for all of its users, including the free Lite plugin.
Here is what is new in this release:
🤖 AIOSEO MCP: Your AI Can Now Fix Your SEO
Most AI tools only tell you what is wrong with your website.
All in One SEO connects Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Cursor, or VS Code to your site so it can act to improve your WordPress SEO.
Overall, it offers 28 SEO abilities, such as finding posts missing a focus keyword or creating a redirect.
It is easy to set up and lets you manage your SEO tasks in plain language, with no technical jargon or special skills required.
🎨 GPT Image 2 and Nano Banana 2 in the AI Image Generator
Every post needs images, and switching between AI image generation tools can be time consuming. AIOSEO earlier released their AI image generator to solve this.
They have now updated the feature with two new models, one from OpenAI and one from Google. You create original visuals right inside the editor, with no stock library and no separate subscription.
🔌 The REST API is now Free for Everyone, Including Lite
This feature used to need a Plus plan and a separate addon. Now, any user gets full programmatic access to their SEO data.
It also exposes the same 28 SEO actions over HTTP, which is callable from any language or stack.
Charitable has shipped a huge range of features across currency, automation, security, and peer-to-peer fundraising for nonprofit websites.
The timing is interesting. On the one hand, StellarWP is being dissolved as a brand. Their donation plugin GiveWP is being folded into Liquid Web’s umbrella, and the change creates some uncertainty for nonprofits.
Charitable has been doing the opposite. It is investing hard and quickly becoming the leader for WordPress fundraising.
Here is everything it rolled out:
Altogether, these updates make Charitable one of the most complete fundraising tools in WordPress.
The next WordPress core release already has a date. WordPress 7.1 is set for August 19, 2026.
The theme this time is working together. It will also open new functionality for everyone.
Notes are getting richer. You will get a suggestion mode and emoji reactions for async feedback. Real-time collaboration also remains a focus area, though a few strategic decisions are still being shaped.
There is also a new Guidelines feature planned. It will let you set your own writing and content rules that connected AI tools follow, so your team and any AI assistant work to the same standards.
A few quality-of-life upgrades stand out:
Expanded Unicode support is coming as well. This will allow email addresses, usernames, and slugs to better reflect WordPress’ global audience.
One note of caution. These plans are being actively pursued, but not every item is guaranteed for the final release.
Making your website multilingual used to mean a developer, a pile of duplicate pages, and a translation bill that climbed every month. Universally takes a different route.
It is an AI website translation tool that translates your whole WordPress site into 110+ languages from a single line of JavaScript, with no developer and no manual file work.
And it is catching on. Syed Balkhi shared that in the roughly two weeks since launch, Universally translated 26 million words for its users.
For a small business, the appeal is the cost. There is a free plan for 2,000 words, and paid plans start at $7.50 a month with per-site pricing instead of the per-word billing that makes other tools expensive as your site grows.
It is also easy on your site. Because Universally serves the translations from its own infrastructure, it does not add duplicate pages to your WordPress database, so your database size, queries, and backups stay the same no matter how many languages you turn on.
You still get the search benefit, too. Every paid plan gives each language its own real URL, hreflang tags, and indexed pages, so your translated content can rank in other countries instead of hiding behind a browser widget.
For more information, see our Universally review.
Slow images drag down your site speed. The usual fix is a cloud-based optimizer. However, those tools charge you per image.
A small site is fine. But the bill grows as you add images each week. Run several sites, and the math stops making sense.
Image Optimizer by WPCode removes that ceiling. It compresses every image automatically, on your own server.
Nothing is sent to a third-party cloud. There is no API key and no per-image fee.
It also generates modern WebP and AVIF formats with a simple toggle. And it keeps a backup of every original for one-click restore.
You install it, turn it on, and it handles the rest. Your site gets faster while your bill stays the same.
It comes included with the WPCode Bundle plan, and your license already covers all your sites.
That is a wrap for this issue.
The WordPress ecosystem is moving fast, especially on AI. I would love to know which of these updates you are most excited to try.
If there is something we should cover next month, let us know.
Your suggestions help shape what we feature. See you next month.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
The post WPBeginner Spotlight 25: Let AI Build Your WordPress Forms, Clean Your Database, and Boost Your Fundraising first appeared on WPBeginner.
On June 23, around 40 students from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), Louisiana Tech University, and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette were celebrated in Chicago as the first cohort to receive the AI Leaders Micro-Credential through AI Leaders, the nation’s first workforce-focused AI literacy course tied to a recognized credential. Each of them earned it by building real projects, applying generative AI to genuine work, and contributing to the open source software that powers more than 40% of the web. Students who completed the course also earned $1,000, made possible by a donation from Automattic and UIC. This celebration was the moment the program had been building toward since it was first announced in February.
Explore the project portfolios built by this year’s AI Leaders
When the pilot launched, the goal was to test whether open source learning could connect directly to job pathways rather than stopping at a certificate. What makes this program distinct is that it is built on open source from the ground up: students learn on WordPress, contribute to it, and use generative AI the way the WordPress ecosystem uses it every day, leaving with a credential that employers can verify and a community that continues long after the course ends.
The pilot reflects a shared belief that AI and open source skills should be within reach regardless of where someone lives or what they can afford.
WordPress was built to expand access to publishing and participation on the open web.
The program is a collaboration with distinct roles for each partner. It is funded through the UIC Tech Solutions Open Source Fund, with support from the University of Illinois Chicago and Automattic, while the WordPress project and the WordPress Foundation contribute to the development of the curriculum itself.
The first cohort was just the beginning. The gathering in Chicago brought this group together with employers and agencies, and further job placements are already in motion.
The next round of AI Leaders is on the horizon. Subscribe for updates to be the first to hear when the next cohort opens and how to take part.
WordPress offers a wide range of educational opportunities for people at every stage, from first steps to advanced contribution. Explore workshops, lesson plans, and community-created resources designed to help you build practical skills while connecting with others who are learning and contributing at WordPress.org/education/.
In the first half of 2026, conversations on AI’s impact, WordPress 7.0 launch, and the importance of the open web emerged. Key themes included rethinking work, community, and embracing uncertainty.
There has been a lot of excitement about the OmFest idea. If you’d like to attend or contribute, please fill out this form as soon as possible so we can gauge the type of venue we need.
It’s truly a testament to how Om lived life to see the outpouring of remembrances in comments on the post and around the web on Techmeme.
I do wish he had been more public earlier in his health journey. You never know what you’ll learn. I’ll take that as a lesson for myself if I’m ever in a similar situation.
There have been some great long-form writings about Om:
I know I’m missing a ton, I’ll update the above. I also added a few more vignettes and pictures to the last post.
Email isn’t dead. Sure, email marketing might not work for everyone, but it’s still crucial for many businesses and personal communication.
Yesterday, my best friend and brother from another mother, Om Malik, passed away.
They say that blood is thicker than water, and what we had was way thicker than blood. — Bob Weir
Om’s request was for a small family prayer ceremony. In mourning, that will be all there is. In celebration and tribute, I love that everyone is sharing their Om stories online, like the writing and photography Christopher Michel shared, which very much embody the OG spirit of blogging that Om pioneered.
I knew Om contained multitudes, but sitting by his side these last few weeks, I’ve been amazed to learn how many deep and completely separate communities he was part of. He meant so much to so many, in so many different ways.
Om loved putting on a good conference, and I’d like to celebrate his life with an awesome event on September 29, 2026 (his 60th) in San Francisco, like an OmFest. I’ll find a space where every community from the many facets of Om can come together. In the spirit of Open Source and co-creation, we can have some booths, flash talks, a gallery of his photography, pen showcase, and whatever other fun ideas people want to contribute. I can’t wait for the beautiful collision of his tech / journalism / Indian party planner / pen / coffee / shoes / photography circles, and probably some niches I couldn’t even imagine.
I have so much to say about Om, but right now I’m working on moderating comments and keeping his website tip-top, so here are a few snippets:
Fundamentally, Om was a lover of humanity. He became a fast “regular” everywhere he went. He wouldn’t just buy coffee, he would also learn the name and story of every barista, the dogs and people in South Park. His deep curiosity and respect weren’t just for the fine and famous. It extended to every soul that crossed his path. His encyclopedic knowledge and photographic memory created connections not just in San Francisco, but all around the world wherever we traveled. (I need to pull the stats, but we went to five continents together, including Antarctica.)
He loved people and their stories.
Om and I were an odd couple. We met online through forums and email because Om was one of the earliest adopters of WordPress. We finally met in person in 2004 when I was 20 and he was 38. He connected me to the first investors I ever spoke to, Phil Black, who formed True Ventures, and Tony Conrad, and introduced me to Toni Schneider, my business soul mate, who became like a co-founder as the CEO of Automattic in our first 8 years.
And of course on the internet. I don’t know how we would count, but I would guess Om read at least 1 or 2% of the whole thing.
Om was a voracious learner. I was there when he first used chopsticks, and only a few months later, he knew every sushi restaurant in San Francisco and exactly what he liked at each.
Om is probably in the top ten in the world for finding things incredibly early. That’s why he has the best usernames! How does one guy get the @om username on WordPress.com in 2005 (user ID 719), Twitter in 2006, Instagram in 2010? The first WordPress meetup was at Chaat Cafe (now Corner) in 2005, 8 people showed up, and Om was one of them.
One of the biggest lessons I learned from Om is the deep appreciation of craft. When he took an interest in photography or pens, he would somehow find his way to the most obscure, highest-quality expression of that form. “What Would Om Want?” is a question I will always ponder. I want to craft products that would make Om proud.
Om’s last word was “love.”
Messaging is emerging as the universal interface for interacting with technology, simplifying complex tasks into straightforward communications akin to texting, thereby enhancing productivity and reducing technical barriers in digital engagement.
In this episode we’re chatting about a topic that matters to everyone in the WooCommerce world and beyond: how OSS communities can come together to market themselves more effectively.
Each template in our ever growing studio library can be added and moved around within any page effortlessly with one click.
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