WordPress 7.0, named Armstrong, shipped on 20 May. The headline feature was not what the community expected. Instead of the long-promised collaborative editing tools, Automattic delivered an AI agent framework baked directly into the WordPress core: WP AI Client, Connectors API, and Abilities API. The idea is that future WordPress sites can connect to OpenAI, Anthropic, or other providers and run AI tasks from inside the CMS itself.

The developer response was near-unanimous pushback.

Why Developers Are Angry

WordPress was built on a philosophy called the 80/20 rule — features that serve 80% of users belong in core, everything else belongs in a plugin. AI agent infrastructure does not come close to 80%. Most WordPress site owners, especially in South Africa, have never heard of the Connectors API and do not need it on their site.

The argument is not against AI. It is against centralising an opinionated, fast-moving technology stack inside a CMS that 43% of the web depends on. When something goes wrong in a WordPress plugin, it affects the sites using that plugin. When something goes wrong in core, it is a potential problem for every site on the planet.

Matt Mullenweg, WordPress's creator, defended the decision and called it the direction the platform is heading. The community largely disagreed.

The Security Problem That Showed Up in 48 Hours

Before the argument about philosophy could settle, a security researcher found something concrete. The Connectors API, the part that links WordPress to external AI providers, stores API keys in the wp_options database table. Not hashed. Not encrypted. In plain text, accessible to any plugin running with administrator privileges.

That is a significant exposure surface. The WordPress plugin ecosystem is enormous and not all of it is carefully audited. A poorly coded or deliberately malicious plugin with admin access can read your OpenAI or Anthropic keys and use them until you notice your bill spiked. If you run a business that installed a cheap premium plugin from a third-party marketplace three years ago and forgot about it, you now have a question worth answering.

What This Means for South African Businesses

Over 60% of the client websites we see in Gauteng run WordPress. If you are among them and have upgraded to 7.0, or if your host auto-updated you, you have two things to check.

First: do you have any AI Connectors set up? If not, your risk from the key storage issue is low because there are no keys to steal. If yes, review which plugins have admin access on your site.

Second: the AI features in 7.0 are off by default but they exist in core now. When a feature exists in the platform, plugins and themes start building on it. Expect the WordPress AI ecosystem to accelerate. Some of what comes will be useful. Some will not be. The same critical eye you apply to plugin choices applies here.

The core change is not reversible for sites that have updated. The sensible response is to know what is on your site, keep plugin count low, and stay current on updates as the security picture around the new API develops.