WordPress Is Moving Again But Can It Regain Trust?

WordPress turned 22 last week. And like many 22-year-olds, it seems ready to reconsider some of last year’s choices.

The milestone arrived with a wave of announcements—new leadership moves, a notable returning contributor, and even an AI team. On the surface, it looks like momentum. But many are wondering: is this progress, or just posturing?

Last week, Automattic raised eyebrows with the unexpected declaration that they are back to contributing to core. “We’re ready to press play again,” the post said. Their Five for the Future page confirms it: 80 contributors for more than 1,300 hours each week (at the time of this post). That’s encouraging. Still, the five-month silence left a gap in trust—and it’s unclear when or if other major contributors will return as well.

The Repository did a deep dive into Mary Hubbard’s recent efforts to rebuild trust inside the WordPress project. Her intentions seem genuine, but not everyone is convinced. Some see her changes as long overdue. Others view them as mostly cosmetic. The deeper issue remains the same: a lack of clarity, transparency, and follow-through from leadership. I personally have hope that Mary’s efforts behind the scenes are bearing real fruit.

Meanwhile, WordPress officially launched an AI team. The goal? To approach new AI features through a canonical plugin. Encouragingly, there are noteworthy people involved: James LePage (Automattic), Felix Arntz (Google), Pascal Birchler (Google), and Jeff Paul (Fueled/10up). There’s real potential here to do interesting things with WordPress and AI.

Finally, after some organizational delays, tickets for WordCamp US 2025 are on sale, and the call for speakers is live. The response so far on social media has been tepid—especially among agencies. Maybe it’s burnout. Maybe it’s frustration. Maybe it’s a quiet protest. Are you going? I’d love to hear why or why not.

There’s movement right now inside WordPress. That’s good. But lasting progress depends on what comes next.

Have I Been Pwned Just Got a Whole Lot Better

• Have I Been Pwned just got its first major technical upgrade since 2013, making it faster, more scalable, and easier for its team to maintain.
• Performance has dramatically improved, with faster and more reliable API responses for tools that rely on its data.
• The user interface is modernized, with a smooth scroll to results when you check an email address.
• Tools like WordPress security plugins using HIBP should continue to work as expected.
• Check out the new Have I Been Pwned, and read the full details from HIBP’s creator, Troy Hunt.

Reviewing Client Videos? Let Gemini Handle the Summary

• Google Drive can now auto-summarize videos using Gemini AI.
• The feature is slowly rolling out to Workspace users, but soon you should see a new “Summarize this video” button on eligible videos.
• The summaries are generated using AI transcription and summarization, making them useful for reviewing client calls or internal meeting recordings.
• This could be a huge timesaver for agencies storing Zoom recordings, training videos, or client walkthroughs in Drive.
• Imagine quickly turning that 30-minute training call into a written guide with a few prompts!
• Gemini isn’t analyzing visuals (yet)—just audio—but that still covers many agency use cases.

Worth a Look

• John Rush has tried all 46 AI Coding Agents and IDEs, and he gives his notes and quick demos in this epic X thread.
• Sponsor Me WP is a new project from Michelle Frechette and Marcus Burnette to match sponsors with people who want to contribute to WordPress.
• Fueled has published a case study about developing the Google Site Kit plugin.
• Managing SEO? Check out this “ultimate” Looker Studio campaign dashboard.
• Google Wallet is dropping PayPal support on June 13.