Welcome to Word on the Future!
This month we’re cutting through the noise with clear, actionable insights on AI readiness, experimentation, accessibility and modern WordPress. If you’re shaping next year’s digital strategy, this roundup will give you the edge you need.
What’s inside this issue 📚
– WordPress in 2026: exploring the macro trends shaping the future of WordPress, this is your guide to the future 🔮
– Watch HM’s Tom Willmot and VIP’s James Giroux unpack the AI Readiness Report with the recording from our latest event 🍿
– The State of Enterprise WordPress 2025 report has landed. Get the TL;DR 👀
– WordPress 6.9 is here, and it changes everything 😱
– Diagnose your AI readiness with our handy quiz 🤖
– Kick off the New Year with content everyone can enjoy. Find out how in Accessibility in WordPress: The Definitive Guide 📘
WordPress in 2026 🔮
WordPress is changing again, quietly but decisively. Our upcoming guide looks ahead to the macro shifts that will shape how enterprises think about content, architecture and intelligence over the next few years.
From what comes after headless, to how AI is becoming operational inside the CMS, to a future of data without lock-in, this report cuts through the hype to focus on what really matters.
If you’re planning for what comes next, this is required reading 🤓
Sign up to be first to receive the guide →
Catch up on the AI Readiness webinar 🍿
Human Made’s Tom Willmot and WordPress VIP’s James Giroux got together on 10th Dec for a data-driven look at how enterprise marketing and technology teams are preparing for the AI-native future.
They unpacked the findings from the 2025 AI Readiness Report — what’s driving adoption, where organisations are struggling, and what sets the most AI-ready teams apart. If you missed it, now’s your chance to catch up on the action.
5 key takeaways from the State of Enterprise WordPress report
The 2025 State of Enterprise WordPress report offers one of the clearest pictures yet of how large organisations are using WordPress to deliver at scale.
The findings reveal a platform maturing in capability, broadening in adoption, and steadily gaining influence inside enterprise technology stacks. For teams navigating digital strategy, this year’s report provides valuable insight into what’s working, where investment is growing, and how leaders are thinking about the future of their CMS ecosystems.
We’ve got the five takeaways that matter most.
WordPress 6.9 arrived on 2nd Dec, but it’s not just another incremental update.
This release marks the beginning of Phase 3 of Gutenberg—the collaboration phase—and introduces features that fundamentally reshape how teams work together in WordPress. At the heart of this release is Notes, a feature we’re particularly proud to see land, given that Human Made sponsors Adam Silverstein, the WordPress core committer who has been instrumental in bringing collaborative editing to the platform.
For enterprise teams managing complex content workflows, this is the release we’ve been waiting for 🙌
See what WordPress 6.9 changes for you →
Diagnose your AI readiness 🤖
Ready to find out how prepared your organisation really is for AI?
Building on insights from ‘Are You Ready for AI?’ — the research report co-published by Human Made and WordPress VIP — we’ve created a quick, interactive quiz that turns our AI readiness maturity matrix into five easy questions.
The matrix breaks AI readiness into five core pillars, each moving along a continuum from Emerging to Optimised, giving leaders a practical way to understand strengths, uncover gaps, and chart a path toward true AI maturity 🗺️
Take the quiz to understand your org’s AI maturity →
Accessibility in WordPress: The Definitive Guide 📘
Accessibility improves usability, boosts performance and strengthens trust. This guide shows you how to bake accessibility into every part of your WordPress platform, from design and development to content and governance. You will learn the principles, the tools and the real world practices that make accessible sites clearer, faster and easier for everyone to use.
It’s practical, easy to action and designed for busy teams who want to raise the quality of their digital experiences.
