WordPress hosting company Automattic announced Monday that it will acquire WPAI, a startup building AI solutions for WordPress, for an undisclosed price.
WPAI has products such as CodeWP, a tool that uses AI to create WP plugins. AgentWP, an AI assistant for WordPress site builders. WP Chat is an AI-powered chat for WordPress-related questions. WPAI said in a blog post that CodeWP and AgentWP will be deprecated in their current avatars and will eventually be integrated into Automattic's products.
As part of the acquisition, Automattic said its founding team will join the company to lead efforts on WordPress' AI capabilities.
“They will work to test, build, and integrate innovative AI solutions into their core ecosystem to redefine how users and developers use WordPress,” Automattic said in the announcement. I mentioned it inside.
Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg also separately announced the acquisition on his personal blog.
WPAI said in a blog post that it will focus on developing applied AI solutions for the WordPress ecosystem.
“This includes developing AI standards for WordPress, improving the core functionality of the platform, and creating tools that help users build and manage better websites. We work closely with the WordPress community. “We will carefully implement these improvements while maintaining open source values,” the company said.
Over the past few years, Automattic has already released several AI tools that help users create better and more concise posts. After the new acquisition, the startup will likely focus on creating AI-powered developer and site-building tools.
The acquisition of WPAI is Automattic's second acquisition in the past two months. Last month, the company acquired a Grammarly competitor for developers called Harper, which checks grammar locally on your device.
Both Automattic and Mullenweg are embroiled in a legal battle with rival WordPress hosting site WP Engine. The latter accused Mullenweg of anti-competitive conduct. Meanwhile, Mullenweg and Automattic claim that WP Engine infringes the WordPress trademark and is not contributing enough to the ecosystem. The judge in the case indicated last month that the court would issue some sort of primary injunction. However, the details of the order need to be resolved.