Like many WordPress users, for a long time I was not very good at coding, and I patched together customizations based on random things I would find on Stack Overflow and elsewhere. The rise of AI completely changed that for me, because ChatGPT is very good at WordPress.
ChatGPT and WordPress
WordPress has been around since 2003, and it has been free and open source the whole time. This means that anybody can see and modify the source code any way that they please without getting sued, allowing for some very creative customizations to be implemented.
However, the human element has always been the bottleneck. One can only write so many lines of code before the sun comes up and the application still doesn’t work.
Of course, many great coding achievements have already been accomplished before AI, but I suspect that the advent of AI will lead to the most innovative WordPress solutions the world has seen to date.
The reason for this goes back to the free and open source aspect of WordPress. ChatGPT and other LLMs (Large Language Models) were trained on public information. Open source code is public information.
This means that the AI has unbridled access to 20+ years of WordPress documentation and information, and essentially knows everything that you can possibly achieve with WordPress and PHP. And you don’t really have to know what you’re doing to get started.
Using ChatGPT to Learn WordPress
The best way to learn anything is to just get started. What if I told you that this very website was built from scratch with help from ChatGPT?
In order to achieve something like this, you would have to already possess a fairly strong familiarity with the software. But, you don’t have to start with a fully-custom theme. You can start anywhere you want or feel comfortable with.
If you already have a WordPress site, find something about it that has been bothering you for a while (we’ve all got them), and ask ChatGPT about it. You will receive an answer, probably in the form of php code that you can then implement into your site.
The more you know about WordPress, the more creative you can get. The AI becomes a collaborative tool that allows for you to create to the fullest extent of your creativity, and the vast capabilities of WordPress. Rather than a replacement, it becomes a supplement. Because the most skilled developers are still the most skilled developers. They just have superhuman powers now.
Even if you know nothing, you can still do more with ChatGPT for less money than ever before as a DIYer. The average joe has a chance to become a professional level WordPress developer if they put the time in, just as before, but with this tool the playing field has been leveled significantly.
Not to mention, the value of learning even a little bit about WordPress has gone up.
Why Am I Telling You This?
On a website that lists WordPress development as a service, it might seem counterintuitive to share this information. However, I’m fully aware that most people reading will not want to do the work and would rather hire someone like me to do it for them.
So, if that sounds like you, then you’ve come to the right place. Hit me up about your website dreams and let me make them come to life for you.
If you want to see some examples, check out my projects page.