WordPress adds an AI assistant


Web designers of the world: The Automattic-owned WordPress.com is further embracing AI on its platform. On Tuesday, it expanded its one-off AI site builder into a persistent AI assistant for editing and media creation.

In the site editor, the AI assistant can help with site-wide structure and design choices. For example, you can ask the chatbot to “give me more font options that feel clean and professional or “change my site colors to be brighter and bolder.” It also includes image generation and writing assistance, such as “rewrite this to sound more confident.” (Who needs learning when you have automation!)

The assistant can also now be integrated into your site’s media library. It can generate new images or make prompted edits to your existing ones. Examples include “update this image to be black and white” or “replace this stack of pancakes with waffles.” (Just don’t fake that if your business sells breakfast food, okay?) WordPress says the assistant understands your website’s look and brand and can tailor the media accordingly.

WordPress also added the AI assistant to the platform’s team chat, Block Notes. You can summon the chatbot from within your team chat threads.

The tool is available for WordPress.com’s Business or Commerce plans. (Or, if you made your site using the AI builder, it’s enabled by default, no matter which plan you use.) The feature works best with the platform’s block themes; it’s much more limited with classic ones. You’ll find the toggle to activate the AI assistant in your site settings under the “AI tools” section.

Amazon reportedly bumped back its AI-powered Alexa to next year


If you’re wondering what happened to Amazon’s new and improved version of its Alexa voice assistant, you’re not alone. reports that the new Alexa is still stuck in its developmental phase and Amazon has cut off access to its beta phase including its new “Let’s Chat” phase. As a result, a planned late 2024 launch has been pushed back to next year.

The problem seems to be with its large language models (LLMs). The new Alexa is designed to from users but it’s also more likely to fail doing some of the most basic things the old version could do quite easily like create a timer or operate smart lights, according to a follow up report from .

Amazon originally planned to unveil its new version of Alexa AI in October but now the timeline has been extended into next year. (As you might have noticed, October has come and gone.) The original timeline planned to premiere the next evolutionary step in Alexa’s advancement on October 17 but Amazon decided to pivot and used the date to show off its new line of Kindle ereaders. Then in August, news surfaced that the new Alexa would be powered by and come with a monthly subscription fee.

As ChatGPT began to rise in popularity in the summer of 2023, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy wanted to see if Alexa could compete if it had an AI upgrade. Jassy reportedly started peppering Alexa with sports questions “like an ESPN reporter at a playoff press conference” and its answers were “nowhere near perfect.” It even made up a recent game score for Jassy.

Despite this, Alexa passed the good enough stage and Jassy and his fellow executives felt their engineers could build a beta version by the early part of 2024. Unfortunately, Amazon wasn’t able to meet its deadline.

Even with the new deadline, the new Alexa still has a long way to go to fix its problems. Some employees told Bloomberg that the problem outside of Alexa’s innerworkings is with Amazon’s overstuffed management and a lack of “a compelling vision for an AI-powered Alexa.” .