WordPress 7.0 dropped this week, and it’s the biggest update in years. If your site runs on WordPress — which most sites I build do — here’s what’s new, what it means for you, and how I can get you set up.
The headline: WordPress now has built-in AI
Up until now, if you wanted AI tools on your WordPress site, you’d install a plugin, hand over an API key, pay for a subscription, and hope it played nicely with everything else. Every plugin handled it differently. It was messy.
WordPress 7.0 fixes this. There’s now a single, built-in screen — Settings → Connectors — that acts as a central hub for AI. You connect your preferred AI provider once, and anything on your site that can use AI taps into that connection automatically. No duplication, no multiple accounts, no managing the same credentials in five different places.
Three providers are available from the off: OpenAI (ChatGPT), Google (Gemini), and Anthropic (Claude). You pick one, add your API key, and you’re done.
What can you actually do with it?
Once connected, AI tools become available directly in your WordPress editor. Practically, that means:
Writing help — stuck on a page title or meta description? You can generate options without leaving WordPress. Useful for anyone publishing content regularly.
Alt text for images — WordPress can now suggest alt text automatically when you upload an image. This matters for accessibility and for SEO. It’s a small thing that a lot of people skip because it’s tedious. Now there’s no excuse.
Text editing — adjust tone, shorten, expand. If you write your own blog posts or product descriptions, this cuts down the time it takes to get something from rough draft to publish-ready.
Block patterns from plain language — this one’s more advanced, but you can describe a layout in plain English and WordPress will build it for you in the block editor. It’s early days, but it’s genuinely useful for building out pages quickly.
None of this replaces thinking about what you want to say. It just removes some of the friction involved in saying it.
What it costs
The Connectors system itself is free — it’s built into WordPress core. But you do need an account with whichever AI provider you choose, and you pay that provider directly based on usage.
For a small business site that’s not publishing daily, the costs are minimal. We’re talking pennies per use for most tasks. It’s not a subscription — you pay for what you actually use.
If you’re already paying for ChatGPT Plus or a similar tool to help with writing, this could actually replace part of that spend by bringing similar capabilities directly into your site.
What else is new in 7.0?
The AI stuff is the headline, but there’s more worth knowing:
Visual Revisions — when you save a page or post, WordPress now shows you a colour-coded diff of exactly what changed. Useful if you edit your own content and want an easy way to review or roll back.
Block Notes — you can leave comments attached to specific blocks on a page, with @mentions. If you have someone helping you with content, this makes back-and-forth much cleaner.
Breadcrumbs and Icons blocks — two new blocks in the editor. Breadcrumbs are useful for larger sites; the Icons block is handy for service pages and feature lists.
Admin redesign — the WordPress dashboard has a more modern look and feel. List screens (posts, pages, media) have been rebuilt with a cleaner interface.
Real-time collaboration — where multiple people edit a page simultaneously — was planned for 7.0 but didn’t make the cut. It’s coming in a future version.
How I can set this up for you
If I built or manage your site, getting you set up on this is straightforward. Here’s what’s involved:
- Confirm your site is on WordPress 7.0 — I’ll check this and update if needed (staging test first, always)
- Choose an AI provider — most clients I’d steer toward OpenAI or Anthropic to start; both are reliable and well-documented
- Set up the API account and key — takes about 10 minutes; you’ll need a credit card for billing but it’s pay-as-you-go
- Connect it in WordPress — Settings → Connectors, install the provider package, add the key
- Quick walkthrough — I’ll show you where the AI tools appear in the editor and how to use them
That’s it. There’s no ongoing maintenance required on my end once it’s live.
Should you bother?
Honestly, it depends on how actively you’re publishing content.
If you update your site occasionally and someone else handles the writing, this probably isn’t urgent. It’s worth having set up, but it won’t change your day-to-day much.
If you’re writing your own posts, updating your services page, adding products, or managing any kind of regular content — yes, get this set up. The alt text generation alone is worth it, and the writing tools will save you time.
Either way, this is now built into every WordPress site going forward. It’s not a trend or an add-on — it’s core infrastructure. Better to understand it now than scramble later.
If you want to get this set up on your site, get in touch. I can take a look at where you’re at and have it running in a single session.