WordCamp Asia: No Plans For WordPress In 5 Years via @sejournal, @martinibuster

An awkward Q&A astatine WordCamp Asia 2025 saw Matt Mullenweg conflict to reply wherever WordPress volition beryllium successful 5 years. Apparently caught disconnected guard, helium turned to the Lead Architect of Gutenberg for ideas, but helium couldn’t reply either.

Project Gutenberg

Gutenberg is simply a reimagining of however WordPress users tin physique websites without knowing immoderate code, with a ocular interface of blocks for antithetic parts of a web page, which is expected to marque it easy. Conceived arsenic a 4 signifier project, it’s been successful improvement since 2017 and is presently successful signifier three.

The 4 phases are:

• Phase 1: Easier Editing
• Phase 2: Customization
• Phase 3: Collaborative Editing
• Phase 4: Multilingual Support

There’s a cognition that Project Gutenberg has not been enthusiastically received by the WordPress developer assemblage oregon by regular users, adjacent though determination are presently 85.9 cardinal installations of the Gutenberg WordPress editor.

However, 1 developer astatine WordCamp Asia told Matt Mullenweg astatine the extremity of league Q&A league that she was experiencing hesitations from radical she speaks with astir utilizing WordPress and expressed vexation astir however hard it was to usage it.

She said:

“Some of those hesitations were it’s casual to get overwhelmed. You know, erstwhile you look up however to larn WordPress, and I had to beryllium truly motivated… for myself to really survey it and benignant of larn the basics of blocks… So bash you person immoderate proposal connected however I could person my friends to commencement a WordPress tract oregon however to code these challenges myself? You cognize like, getting overwhelmed and feeling similar there’s conscionable truthful much. I’m not a coder and things similar that… immoderate proposal you tin connection tiny concern owners?”

The full intent of the Gutenberg artifact exertion was to marque it easier for non-coders to usage WordPress. So a WordPress idiosyncratic asking for ideas connected however to person radical to usage WordPress presented an unflattering presumption of the occurrence of the WordPress Gutenberg Project.

Where Will WordPress Be In Five Years?

Another awkward infinitesimal was erstwhile idiosyncratic other asked Matt Mullenweg wherever helium saw WordPress being successful 5 years. The question seemingly caught him disconnected defender arsenic helium was incapable to articulate what the program is for the world’s astir fashionable contented absorption system.

Mullenweg had been talking astir the value of AI and of immoderate integrations being tested successful the commercialized mentation astatine WordPress.com. So the idiosyncratic asking the question asked if helium had immoderate different ideas beyond AI.

The idiosyncratic asked:

“If you person different ideas beyond AI oregon adjacent however we devour WordPress 5 years from present that mightiness beryllium antithetic from today.”

Matt Mullenweg answered:

“Yeah, it’s hard to deliberation astir thing but AI close now. And arsenic I said a fewer years ago, earlier ChatGPT came out, larn AI deeply. Everyone successful the country should beryllium playing with it. Try retired antithetic models. Check retired Grok, cheque retired DeepSeek, 2 of the coolest ones that conscionable launched.

And for WordPress, astatine that constituent volition beryllium past each the phases of Gutenberg. I think… I don’t know…”

It was astatine this constituent that Mullenweg calls connected Matías Ventura, Lead Architect of Gutenberg, to inquire him if helium has immoderate ideas of wherever WordPress is headed successful 5 years.

He continued:

“Matías, what bash you think? What’s post-Gutenberg? We’ve been moving for truthful long, it’s…”

Matías Ventura, Lead Architect of Gutenberg, came up to a microphone to assistance Mullenweg reply the question helium was struggling with.

Matías answered:

“I mean, hopefully we’ll beryllium done by past so…”

Mullenweg commented:

“Sometimes that past 10% takes, you know, 90% of the time.”

Matías quipped that it tin instrumentality a 100 years past continued his answer, which fundamentally admitted that determination were nary plans without really admitting that determination were nary plans for 5 years out.

He continued his answer:

“I don’t know, I think, good successful the speech I gave I… besides reflected a spot that portion of the happening is conscionable discovering arsenic we go, similar figuring retired however like, close present it’s AI that’s shaping world but who knows, successful a fewer decades what it would be. And to me, the lone condemnation is that yeah, we’ll request to adapt, we’ll request to change. And that’s portion of the amusive of it, I think. So I’m looking guardant to immoderate comes.”

Mullenweg jumped successful astatine this constituent with his thoughts:

“That’s a bully constituent of the, you know, however galore releases we person of WordPress close now, 60 oregon whatever… 70 probably…. Outside of Gutenberg, we haven’t had a roadmap that goes six months oregon a year, oregon a mates versions, due to the fact that the satellite changes successful ways you can’t predict.

But being responsive is, I think, truly is however organisms survive.

You know, Darwin, said it’s not the fittest of the taxon that survives. It’s the 1 that’s astir adaptable to change. I deliberation that’s existent for bundle arsenic well.”

Mullenweg Challenged To Adapt To Change

His connection astir being adaptable to alteration acceptable up different awkward infinitesimal astatine the 6:55:47 infinitesimal people wherever Taco Verdonschot, co-owner of Progress Planner, stood up to the microphone and asked Mullenweg if helium truly was committed to being adaptable.

Taco Verdonschot is formerly of Yoast SEO and presently sponsored to enactment connected WordPress by Emilia Capital (owned by Joost de Valk and Marieke van de Rakt).

Taco asked:

“I’m Taco, co-owner of Progress Planner. I was wondering, you were talking astir adaptability earlier and endurance of the fittest. That means being unfastened to change. What we’ve seen successful the past mates of months is that radical who were talking astir alteration got banned from the project. How unfastened are you to discussing alteration successful the project?”

Mullenweg responded:

“Sure. I don’t privation to spell excessively acold into this but I volition accidental that talking astir alteration volition not get you banned. There’s different behaviors… but conscionable talking astir alteration is thing that we bash beauteous overmuch each day. And we’ve changed a batch implicit the years. We’ve changed a batch successful the past year. So yeah. But I don’t privation to talk to anyone personally, you know. So support it positive.”

Biggest Challenges WordPress Will Face In Next Five Years

Watch the question and reply astatine the 6:19:24 mark