Monthly Roundup - October 2023

As per McKinsey’s State of AI in 2023 report, about 40% of businesses intend to increase their Artificial Intelligence investments, after the recent advancements. Given the enterprise interest in adopting AI for web & digital strategy, we are not surprised.

WordPress, as the most popular CMS, is positioned well to embrace AI. Rahul Bansal, our CEO, recently addressed this topic at International News Media Association’s Future Technology and AI-Led New Delhi Study Tour. He highlighted how WordPress is already leveraging AI for content generation, SEO, community moderation, and accessibility. Additionally, he dispelled doubts regarding WordPress being compatible with AI for enterprise applications.

Furthermore, enterprises can now take advantage of our AI consulting services to integrate existing AI solutions or develop custom AI solutions. Even if your AI roadmap is unclear, we will help you ask the right questions to get the most out of your AI strategy.

Continuing to assist businesses adapt to a more privacy-centric web, we recently concluded a series of Privacy Sandbox events across India, in collaboration with Google, as part of our web ecosystem consulting work.

We engaged with prominent tech and publishing companies in Pune, Bangalore, Mumbai, and Delhi, utilizing the Privacy Sandbox Analysis Tools (PSAT), which we are developing with Google, to assess their websites’ reliance on third-party cookies. We also presented PSAT at WordCamp Mumbai and shared more about the upcoming privacy-focused changes with the community.

With the upcoming deprecation of third-party cookies (3PCD), businesses that depend on third-party cookies should reach out to us for a Privacy Sandbox audit.

In another major milestone, we launched our revamped WordPress development course and made it available to the community under the CC0 license. The revamped course now has videos, micro-courses, quizzes, and more. Know more about it in our detailed blog post.

In a recent blog post, we discussed manual testing tools, checklists, and resources to help streamline the website testing process. Moreover, we published a case study about our work on a pet finder solution for Waldo’s Friends using WooCommerce.

Our colleague at rtCamp, Edi Amin created a Visual Studio Code extension, WP Block Theme Companion, designed to assist with block theme development.

WordPress News Snippets

A group of enterprise agencies is conducting the State of Enterprise WordPress 2023 survey for enterprises using WordPress. The survey will lead to the State of Enterprise WordPress 2023 report slated to be released later this year.
WooCommerce rebrands itself as Woo. Extension names will be automatically updated. Woo merchants might see changes in the domain name on their dashboard or email. However, no action is required from them.
Jetpack 12.7 latest update expanded AI Assistant features to improve the content creation experience and added multiple subscription tiers for paid newsletters. This version can help you generate excerpts for your content using AI.
WordPress.com users can now connect their sites with fediverse using the ActivityPub plugin. This plugin will allow seamless integration with platforms like Mastodon, Pleroma, Friendica, and more. It will help the sites expand their reach by allowing readers to follow the website’s blog posts on these platforms.
WordPress.org launched its redesigned Showcase page to spark creativity and highlight the possibilities with WordPress.

From Around the Web

Ritvvij Parikh, an industry veteran and the moderator at International News Media Association’s Future Technology and AI-Led New Delhi Study Tour, shares a very insightful summary of the study tour and answers some pertinent questions around AI for news media and publishers.
Automattic acquired Texts.com, a unified messaging application, for USD 50 million. Texts.com combines messaging platforms such as iMessage, Slack, and LinkedIn into a single inbox, with plans to incorporate more in the future.
The W3C approved WCAG 2.2 as the recommended web standard for accessibility. This version introduces 9 success criteria that emphasize keyboard navigation, uniformity of UI elements, and form validation. WCAG 2.2 will enhance the inclusivity of websites for individuals with cognitive and learning impairments.
Google has offered to indemnify its users if they are sued for copyright violation after using its generative AI tools. The indemnity covers both training data and generated output.

Upcoming Events

Matt Mullenweg’s annual keynote address “State of the Word” is scheduled for December 11, 2023, in Madrid, Spain. He will reflect on the progress made in 2023 and discuss the future of open-source software.
WordCamp Asia, taking place on March 7-9, 2024, has simplified the visa application process for all attendees. Applicants can now conveniently apply for a special eVisa directly through WordCamp Asia, without having to visit an embassy.