The digital landscape continues to evolve, and artificial intelligence is now a present reality. The Drupal Association is excited to announce a focused approach to AI development within the Drupal ecosystem: the Drupal AI Initiative.

To ensure Drupal AI delivers a significant and strategic impact, we must move beyond traditional volunteer-based contribution models. We need a coordinated, highly dedicated effort to make sure we don’t miss the connection with the market. To build a powerful and competitive AI ecosystem for Drupal aligned with the community’s values, we need a professional team focused exclusively on this task.

Why is this needed?

We are accelerating Drupal AI innovation: Strategic initiatives like the Drupal AI initiative require consistent, dedicated effort that often exceeds the capacity of volunteer contributors.

If we are too slow, if we’re not coordinated, if we cannot ensure quality, Drupal will be left behind. An analogy we’re not used to in the U.S., “we need to take the bullet train, otherwise we will not arrive in time.”

In some ways, Drupal is ahead of many other CMS’s and other platforms. A scattershot approach in this environment will not put and keep Drupal in the lead. Nor will it do it in a manner consistent with our values of openness, innovation, and community benefit.

What are we doing?

The proposed path to success centers on creating a sustainable funding structure that compensates dedicated contributors for their work. This model is designed to attract sponsors by delivering immediate, tangible value through quick feature development and marketing, ultimately creating a self-sustaining cycle of innovation and investment.

The core of the strategy is to fund a team of full-time contributors to accelerate AI innovation within Drupal. Our goal is to secure approximately $400,000 - $500,000 USD each six months to fund a team of four to ten full-time contributors. To do this, we are working to attract 10-25 "Drupal AI Sponsors" with a proposed minimum sponsorship of $10,000 to $20,000, indexed to the size and country of the sponsoring company.

In addition to the financial contribution, Drupal AI Sponsors are expected to:

• Be a Drupal Certified Partner of the Drupal Association,
• Have been actively involved in the DrupalAI ecosystem prior to joining the program,
• Commit 1/2 or one FTE and provide proof of expertise of suggested FTEs, either by showing current contribution to the Drupal AI ecosystem or similar experience,
• Support the Drupal AI strategic roadmap to which your contributor will be directed.

Why are Leading Companies joining?

We’ve more than doubled the sponsoring companies: the five Founders and one Maker announced in June, FreelyGive, Acquia, 1xINTERNET, Dropsolid, Salsa Digital, and amazee.io, are being joined by: ImageX, Axelerant, QED42, Morpht, Joshi Consulting, Elevated Third, Zoocha, and SeeD EM.

These companies know that being part of the Drupal AI Initiative positions them strategically to:

• Win new business by offering cutting-edge AI-powered Drupal solutions.
• Increase visibility and recognition by being recognized as leaders in Drupal AI.
• Drive commercial opportunities, selling AI-driven projects and growing their business.
• Gain early market advantage with priority access to the latest Drupal AI features.
• Move Drupal forward at a faster pace and be part of this epic initiative.

How does it work?

We’re assembling a dedicated team of full-time Drupal AI contributors, funded through sponsorships tailored to your organization's size and region. Our inclusive sponsorship model ensures every company, large or small, can play a role:

• Drupal AI Sponsor (Silver & Gold): Commit funding and dedicated FTE contributors. In return, you receive extensive promotional opportunities, training access, roadmap influence, and market-ready AI tools ahead of your competition.(LINK to tiers and options + contract)
• Drupal AI Supporter: Commit funding with direct promotional benefits and early insight into Drupal AI developments.

This funding program creates a win-win scenario: you invest in Drupal’s AI future, and Drupal invests back in your business growth. Sponsors will also receive:

• Recognition as a Drupal AI Sponsor on the website and in marketing materials,
• Contribution credits,
• Access to all marketing materials for co-branded use,
• Early information about roadmaps and releases,
• Inclusion in the Early Access Program (This is new! More details below),
• Ability to suggest roadmap items, access to leads, and listing Sponsor services on product page available to Gold level sponsors.

What is the Early Access Program?

The Early Access Program is designed to accelerate the development of AI features for Drupal. It provides committed partner companies with early access to new AI capabilities before they are released to the broader Drupal community. This approach helps us innovate faster, deliver immediate value to our partners, and support the health of our community.

Participants of the Drupal AI Initiative will have early access to these specialized features. After a defined period, these features may be released as open-source contributions to the broader community.

Our Commitment to Transparency:

We are committed to transparency throughout this program. The Early Access program is designed to accelerate innovation while ensuring that all final developments eventually become fully available to the broader Drupal community. We will provide regular updates on our progress, keeping the community informed.

Looking Forward: AI That Reflects Our Values

The Early Access program represents a practical evolution of open-source collaboration, one that acknowledges market realities while preserving our core values of openness, innovation, and community benefit. By guiding AI development within the Drupal ecosystem, we ensure these powerful tools enhance human creativity, maintain user agency, and remain safely accessible to all.

The future of Drupal is AI-powered, community-driven, and built on the values that have made us strong.

If your company is interested in participating, please submit the Become an AI Maker form on the Drupal AI page.

(For site managers, content creators, and the tech-savvy alike, here’s why Drupal 11 is worth the leap.)

Whether you manage content every day, steer digital strategy, or ship code, Drupal 11 delivers a faster, friendlier, and more future-ready platform. Here’s what’s new and why it matters.

Today we are talking about AI, How it can be privacy focused, and What amazee.ai is doing to help with guest Michael Schmid. We’ll also cover LiteLLM AI Provider as our module of the week.

For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/515

• Privacy Concerns with AI
• Amazee's Privacy-Focused AI Solutions
• Foundation Models and Their Importance
• AI-Powered Search in Drupal
• Customizing AI Responses and Search
• Proprietary vs. Open Source Models
• Understanding Neural Networks
• Training and Weights in Models
• Integrating AI with Drupal
• Practical Steps to Implement AI in Drupal
• AI and MCP for Automation
• Open Source Models in AI
• Future Directions for MAI AI
• Conclusion and Contact Information

• amazee.ai
• Foundation models
• amazee ai provider & amazee ai vector db module
• Drupal AI module
• AI Chatbot
• MCP
• DrupalGovCon

Michael Schmid - amazee.ai schnitzel

Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi Rich Lawson - richlawson.co rklawson

Matt Glaman - mglaman.dev mglaman

• Brief description:
  • AI provider for using LiteLLM. LiteLLM is a gateway that allows connecting to LLMs without accessing the providers directly using the same API as OpenAI along with other governance goodies.
• Module name/project name:
  • LiteLLM AI Provider
• Brief history
  • How old: created on 24 February 2025
  • Versions available: beta, 1.1.0 and 1.0.0 to track main AI module
• Maintainership
  • Actively maintained
• Usage stats:
  • 439
• Maintainer(s):
  • marcus_johansson, andrewbelcher, justanothermark of FreelyGive
• Module features and usage
  • Basically like OpenAI provider but allows it to work with non-OpenAI models and other logic that’s in the OpenAI provider module.

Organizing your website’s content into categories is easy and intuitive, thanks to Drupal’s taxonomy, one of its best built-in tools. But what if your website has hundreds or even thousands of categories — especially in multiple languages — and you need to update or reorganize them frequently?

Dear Readers,

There is a dangerous complacency settling into the tech job market. Too many candidates are trusting automation to polish their image instead of putting in the work to sharpen their skills. Blake Newman’s recent piece on the bleak state of the U.S. Drupal job market should set off alarms. It is not just about Drupal. It is about what happens when the pressure to get hired outweighs the commitment to be qualified.

The uncomfortable truth is that in today’s hiring climate, credibility is currency. You can train it, certify it, and protect it, or you can squander it in a single click. AI can be a remarkable assistant, but it cannot fix a hollow résumé or invent real-world experience. The people who win in this market will be the ones who treat their professional reputation like it is worth more than any algorithm’s output.

If you are serious about standing out, start now. Identify the skills that matter, get them validated, and put them where the right people can see them. Connect with communities that recognize quality. Show your work, not just your buzzwords. Whether you are in Drupal or any other niche, the same rule applies: you will not beat the noise by adding more noise. You will beat it by being undeniably good at what you do.

INTERVIEW

• “Community is How We Compound Progress” — The Developer Behind the London Drupal Engineering Meetup
• Shayaan Momin on Supporting DrupalCamp Pune 2025 Through Design and Community Involvement

DISCOVER DRUPAL

• U.S. Drupal Job Market Enters Tough Phase, Experts Warn
• AI Agent for Drupal Automates Site Management with Natural Language Commands
• Sanjay Mogra's First Drupal Module to Improve Media Display in Views
• ECA Module 3.0.0 for Drupal Released with Drupal 11.2 Support and Modeler API
• RefreshLess Module Adds Turbo Caching and Gains Recognition in Drupal Community
• Markdown Easy 2.0.0-RC1 Released with New Features and Improved Configuration for Drupal
• WebFirst Releases Drupal Acquia Certification Study Guide

EVENTS

• DrupalCon Vienna 2025 Opens Regular Registration
• International Splash Awards 2025 Nominees Announced for DrupalCon Vienna

ORGANIZATION NEWS

• Adaptive Releases Interact AI Mode for Drupal Sites

We acknowledge that there are more stories to share. However, due to selection constraints, we must pause further exploration for now.

To get timely updates, follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Bluesky, and Facebook. You can also join us on Drupal Slack at #thedroptimes.

Thank you, 
Sincerely 
Alka Elizabeth 
Sub-editor, The DropTimes.

Orchestrating Development Teams Like Kubernetes

The pricing conversation has been interesting to watch, especially as it relates to development team orchestration and resource allocation. The comments, the ecosystem convergence discussion, and industry thoughts on agency transformation all point to the same thing: we're in the middle of a shift in how development work gets organized.

I mentioned thinking there might be a better approach to this. Here's what I had in mind.

The Orchestration Model

Think about how Kubernetes works - it's a container orchestration system that automatically manages where and how applications run across multiple servers. You don't manually decide "we need 3 web server pods on server A and 2 database pods on server B."

Instead, you define what services you need (web servers, databases, caches) and how they should scale based on demand. Kubernetes figures out how many of each type to run based on current load and metrics, then figures out where to place them based on available resources and constraints.

What if we applied that same orchestration model to development teams?

Instead of throwing senior-level rates at routine maintenance, or abandoning smaller projects because they don't fit traditional agency economics, we coordinate talent based on what each task actually requires.

A technical architect acts like that Kubernetes orchestration system. They look at project requirements and figure out what types of expertise are needed and how much of each. Then they coordinate between client requirements, available talent, and project constraints to assign the right people to the right tasks. Whether that's a senior developer handling complex architecture decisions, a mentored developer working on implementation tasks, or AI handling routine code generation.

It's about matching the right resource to the right task.

Why This Matters Now

The ecosystem pieces we've been discussing are reducing coordination costs: affordable hosting, professional themes under $500, mentored developers through the IXP (inexperienced) program, Drupal CMS for less technical users, Experience Builder for visual personalization. We still need someone to orchestrate how these pieces work together.

That's where the technical architect orchestration model becomes important. It's not about cheaper labor. It's about intelligent resource allocation.

The Human Element

This connects to what Dries wrote about the "accountability gap" in his analysis of AI and agency transformation. AI can generate code and automate processes, but someone needs to own the results and make sure everything's going the right direction. Sometimes AI gets confused. Someone has to guide it.

The technical architect fills that accountability layer while coordinating the broader team.

Looking Ahead

I've been working on how this orchestration model works in practice - the tools, the processes, the communication patterns that make cross-cultural, multi-skill-level teams effective.

The economics are promising. The client gets better value through intelligent resource allocation. The developers get meaningful work that matches their skill level and expertise. And projects that used to be impossible become viable again.

I'll dive into the implementation details in upcoming posts. But first, what's your experience with these kinds of orchestrated approaches? Have you seen coordination models that work well for distributed teams?

The conversation's just getting started.

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