WordPress hosting company Automattic said Monday it is acquiring WPAI, a startup building AI solutions for WordPress, for an undisclosed price.
WPAI has some products, such as CodeWP, a tool that uses AI to generate WP plugins. AgentWP, an AI assistant for WordPress site builders; There’s WP Chat, an AI-powered chat for WordPress-related questions. WPAI said in a blog post that CodeWP and AgentWP will be discontinued in their current avatars and will eventually be integrated into Automattic’s products.
Automattic said that as part of the acquisition, its founding team will join the company and lead AI feature efforts for WordPress.
“They will work to test, build, and integrate innovative AI solutions into the core ecosystem to redefine the way users and developers work with WordPress,” Automattic said in a release.
Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg also announced the acquisition separately on his personal blog.
WPAI said in a blog post that the company’s focus will be on creating AI application solutions for the WordPress ecosystem.
“This includes developing AI standards for WordPress, improving the platform’s core functionality, and creating tools to help users build and manage better websites. We will work closely with the WordPress community to carefully implement these improvements while maintaining our open source values,” the company said.
Over the past few years, Automattic has already released several AI tools to help users write better, more concise posts. Following the new acquisition, the startup is likely to focus on creating AI-based developer and site-building tools.
The WPAI acquisition is Automattic’s second acquisition in two months. Last month, the company acquired a Grammarly competitor for developers called Harper, which checks grammar locally on the device.
Both Automattic and Mullenweg are locked in a legal battle with rival WordPress hosting site WP Engine. The latter accused Mullenweg of anti-competitive behavior. On the other hand, Mullenweg and Automattic claimed that WP Engine infringed on the “WordPress” trademark and did not sufficiently contribute to the ecosystem. The judge in the case said last month that the court would pass an initial injunction. However, the specifics of the order need to be sorted out.
