The Documentation team is proposing the creation of documentation with the help of artificial intelligence, but always with an intermediate human factor to assist with oversight.
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Program transcript
Hello, I’m Alicia Ireland, and you’re listening to WPpodcast, bringing the weekly news from the WordPress Community.
In this episode, you’ll find the information from July 21st to 27th, 2025.
Creating documentation can be a pretty tedious process, especially now that artificial intelligence tools exist, which, with just a few ideas, can help you generate an entire text.
For this reason, the WordPress documentation team has proposed a workflow to integrate artificial intelligence into the creation of new user documentation for version 6.9, while always maintaining human control and oversight. It’s a pilot focused solely on creating new articles, where AI generates initial drafts following the official style guidelines, but without ever replacing contributors’ expertise, as they retain final responsibility for reviewing, editing, and publishing the content. Future phases anticipate expanding this process to updating existing documentation and automating screenshots using tools such as WordPress Playground.
The proposed workflow consists of several sequential stages: first, clearly defining the scope, audience, and type of article; then, asking the AI for a structured draft including internal references to developer notes, Trac, and GitHub; next, subjecting that draft to fact-checking and human editing to guarantee technical accuracy and linguistic correctness; then, performing checks on style, accessibility, and inclusivity; once these criteria are satisfied, publishing with complete transparency regarding AI use, recording details of the process and involved contributors in the change history; and finally, reflecting on successes and mistakes to document improvements and prepare future iterations.
To preserve documentation integrity, safeguards are established, including never publishing AI-generated content without human review, basing prompts on verifiable sources to prevent hallucinations, and not training models with private WordPress.org data, always adopting a human-in-the-loop approach. Additionally, the ethical aspect is emphasized: AI exists to reduce friction in writing, not to replace contributors. Before the release of version 6.9, the team will collaborate on designing and testing prompts, sharing findings in meetings and on GitHub to create reusable example libraries and lay the groundwork for future automations in subsequent cycles.
Regarding WordPress software testing, the first WordPress quality analysis report details how the test team, now exceeding 50 members, transitioned from basic testing to adopting a comprehensive quality assurance approach after manually analyzing the 217 commits included between versions 6.8.0 and 6.8.2. A scoring system was introduced, awarding up to 5 points per commit based on automated tests, code reviews, and manual tests, yielding an average score of 2.47 and revealing limited test coverage, as only 29 out of 52 improvement commits included tests. Additionally, there was a significant mismatch between the 366 test reports generated by 58 contributors and the effective incorporation of those results into core, reflected in just 8% of related commits.
Based on these conclusions and two feedback sessions, the proposal emerged to create the WordPress Test Contributors Group, an open space without tenure requirements, prioritizing networking and knowledge exchange to bridge the identified gap between testers and committers. The vision is ensuring a quality level such that any developer can integrate code confidently, and the mission is guiding those who wish to specialize, promoting focused talent and continuous collaborative learning.
To achieve this, members will be organized by specific areas or components, such as Media or build tools, with a flat structure and mentor support to help each person become an expert in their field. The onboarding process involves selecting a component, attending onboarding sessions or contacting active members directly, and participating in a feedback loop to measure progress. After five to six months of specialized work, the group is expected to reach the proposed excellence.
The Hosting team proposes updating the team description, arguing that current versions are too brief and do not clearly reflect their role collaborating with the industry, distributed testing, and user education.
For this, three drafts with different levels of detail are presented, positioning the team as an intermediary between hosting providers and WordPress developers, emphasizing its role in bug identification, technical documentation, and fostering dialogue through weekly meetings.
The Photos team has launched the Summer Photo Contest, inviting you to submit summer-flavored photographs you take during the month of August and upload them to the WordPress photo directory with the hashtag #SummerPhotoContest. A group of photographers and moderators from the team will select their favorite photos, and winners will receive special prizes to be announced shortly, as well as a featured spot in the Photo Directory.
And finally, this podcast is distributed under a Creative Commons license as a derivative version of the podcast in Spanish; you can find all the links for more information, and the podcast in other languages, at WPpodcast .org.
Thanks for listening, and until the next episode!
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