WordPress launches generative AI assistant to enhance content writing

WordPress has announced a proprietary AI-powered writing assistant to help users create and edit blog posts. The new tool, called Jetpack AI Assistant, is now readily available on WordPress.com and seamlessly integrates into the editor interface.

Users with WordPress blogs hosted on other platforms can also access this tool by utilizing a Jetpack plugin, which offers features to enhance marketing, security, and anti-spam efforts. 

The assistant employs generative AI technology similar to OpenAI’s large language model (LLM) chatbot, ChatGPT. However, the company’s blog post does not provide specific information regarding the AI architecture.

Operating similarly to its counterparts, Jetpack utilizes user prompts to generate content. Additionally, the AI assistant can tailor and refine text to match specific tones and styles, enabling writers to adapt their writing to resonate with their target audience.

Jetpack AI Assistant currently supports 12 languages, including English, Hindi, Spanish, French, Chinese, and Korean. The tool claims to automatically rectify spelling and grammar errors while facilitating seamless translation among the supported languages.

Automattic, the company behind WordPress and Jetpack AI Assistant, believes that this functionality empowers writers to create content in their native language, yet will enable them to market their content in different languages. 

Leveraging generative AI to deliver personalized content

The company characterizes the tool as a “creative writing partner” that empowers users to effortlessly generate diverse content, substantially streamlining the content creation process.

With Jetpack AI Assistant, users can summarize a blog post into a headline and adjust the tone of their text by selecting options such as “formal,” “provocative,” or “humorous.” 

If users prefer to write their post, they can still use Jetpack AI Assistant to generate a headline based on their writing.

Moreover, the company asserts that the assistant surpasses the standard built-in tools in WordPress by offering advanced spelling and grammar correction features. 

WordPress’s introduction of this generative AI feature seems well aligned with the prevailing trend of companies embracing AI-powered assistants for business automation and content creation. Notably, OpenAI’s AI models have quickly gained adoption by various companies, including Grammarly Inc.’s GrammarlyGo and Microsoft Corp.’s Office365 products, such as Word.

Users can avail themselves of a complimentary Jetpack AI Assistant block trial, allowing for up to 20 requests. However, to continue using the feature after that, there is a monthly fee of $10.

The future of content development in changing tech culture

Responding to the WordPress news, Josh Koenig, co-founder & chief strategy officer at WebOps platform Pantheon, said that the ability to generate text and image content has become indispensable in the age of large language models (LLMs).

He stated that while AI will greatly accelerate content creation, it cannot completely replace content creators.

“In a world where it becomes virtually free to produce large amounts of average/mediocre content, human creativity, and insight will still be needed to create something truly excellent that can break through,” Koenig told VentureBeat. “With AI taking over more of the grunt work of putting together individual insights, creators’ work will become more interesting and strategic. Writers and creators will need to upskill, as more and more purely operational tasks are automated. The human value-add will be in creativity and decision-making.”