If AI can write, design, and optimize content—what’s left for CMS platforms to do?

That’s the question Dries Buytaert tackled in How AI could reshape CMS platforms. As the founder of Drupal, he knows how content systems evolve—and he believes AI won’t replace CMS platforms but will become a core layer within them.

“I believe the future of CMS platforms is not about replacing humans, but about augmenting them with intelligent capabilities.” 

In platforms like Drupal, these changes are already taking shape. The OpenAI module allows editors to generate summaries, titles, and full paragraphs right inside the CMS, speeding up content creation. AI models are also being used to scan content and generate metadata—like taxonomy terms, alt text, or suggested categories—automating tasks that once took manual effort. Large language models are beginning to improve search by understanding context, not just keywords. AI-powered personalization is helping tailor content based on user behaviour, similar to how recommendation engines work on streaming platforms.

These are powerful tools. But here’s the catch: most of these tasks can be done by humans—just not as quickly.

And sometimes, speed isn’t the point.

An AI can write a product description or suggest metadata, but it might miss nuance, voice, or the context behind a piece of content. That’s where human editors still hold the line—especially when it comes to brand consistency, editorial judgment, and ethical decision-making.

Joshua Mitchell echoed this balance in his response post, Some Thoughts About How AI Could Reshape CMS Platforms:

“AI and human editors will increasingly work in parallel, requiring more sophisticated versioning for both content and configuration.”

This is a real technical concern. If AI is generating drafts or modifying layouts, we need version control systems that treat AI edits like any other pull request: trackable, reversible, and reviewed.

Stephen Reny, President and CEO of Acquia, pointed out that the pace of this shift is fast:

“Much of this change will happen in a timeframe that will seem like warp speed compared to prior evolutions. The future is now...”

Michael Anello added another layer: governance.

“Drupal should work to position itself as a leader in AI governance. I’m only comfortable offering AI functionality to clients that keeps a human in the loop (before any 'save' happens.)”

That’s where I agree most. AI is essential—it can handle routine, repetitive tasks in a CMS. But leaning too hard on it means risking quality, trust, and control. We shouldn’t treat AI as a shortcut to replace thinking. Instead, treat it as a power tool: use it with care, skill, and oversight.

Some tasks—like idea generation, auto-tagging, or suggesting layouts—are ideal for AI support. But final content approval, editorial tone, ethical considerations, and big-picture planning? Still best left to humans.

With that, let's move on to the important stories from the past week.

Interview

• Superhumans Leading Loudly in a Quietly Biased Industry

Discover Drupal

• AI-Powered IACK Module Automates Drupal Information Architecture

• Keshav Patel Releases Entity Usage Explorer for Accurate Entity Tracking

• 2025 Drupal Developer Survey Open for Global Participation

Events

• AI, Nix, and Next-Gen Navigation: What to Expect at DrupalCon Atlanta 2025

• Events of the Week: March 24 - 30, 2025

• Drupal Camp Asheville 2025 Now Accepting Session Proposals

• Acquia to Host Community Bullseye Bash at DrupalCon Atlanta 2025

• Drupal Dev Days 2025 Sees High Demand; Ticket Prices Increase Today

• Sponsors Powering the Drupal Community at DrupalCon Atlanta 2025

Drupal Community

• Is it Time for DXP to Rest in Peace? Dominique De Cooman Thinks Otherwise

• Prateek Jain Challenges the "DXP is Obsolete" Claims

Organization News

• amazee.io at DrupalCon Atlanta 2025: Talks, AI, and Exclusive Insights

• Aten Design Group Gears Up for DrupalCon Atlanta 2025 with Talks, Tools, and Community Spirit

• How Content Cloud is Changing Headless Drupal Development

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 and Facebook. You can also join us on Drupal Slack at #thedroptimes.

Thank you, 
Sincerely 
Kazima Abbas
Sub-editor, The DropTimes. 

I’ll be at DrupalCon Atlanta, where my primary goal is to connect and talk to all of you in the Drupal community who have questions about Experience Builder: hopes, concerns, aspirations, ideas, insights, anything!

I won’t be talking at DrupalCon this time, but:

• I’m confident my team mate Bálint “balintbrews” Kléri will blow your mind in his technical session! 🤓
• Next, Lauri will talk about it from a site builder and content creator POV, and share a good chunk of his vision. 😎
• Conveniently scheduled after one another in the same room. Before either, Dries will reveal the most exciting advancements in the DriesNote!
• And last but not least, to round out your Tuesday at DrupalCon: Renee Lund and Jillian Chueka are talking about the design process behind XB.

XB is a vast undertaking. We don’t yet have detailed plans for most things. We don’t yet have designs for most things.
We do have Lauri’s mind for the vision. The dozen or so of us working in its code depths know there are countless unfinished parts. That pains us, but it’s necessary to get to painting the vision for all of you, which you’ll see during the DriesNote.

Chances are talking to you will reveal some missed parts.

Which is why this is the perfect time to talk to me: we’re currently planning Q2 and Q3. In my role as Tech Lead, I want to hear your steepest challenges, to make sure we have a high degree of confidence of (eventually) being able to meet those challenges 😊

I’ll distill everything discussed during DrupalCon in a future blog post. About to leave for the airport now, see you there! 🛫

P.S.: the weekly blog posts are lagging, by months. Urgent things keep getting in the way from me catching up. But rest assured, what Dries will show, is way, way further than what you’ve seen on this blog!

New AI-powered tools and techniques make it easier than ever to manage content in your CMS.

While they’re not necessarily the most “earth-shattering” advances in technology, for anyone in charge of managing website content and media, there have been a series of incremental improvements to the editorial experience.

One small but very useful new tool now available in Drupal is the AI Image Alt Text module. 

Based on the new suite of AI modules now available in Drupal, this tool is able to visually analyze images loaded to the website by editors, and automatically suggest a text description (alt-text) for each one. It does so by connecting your CMS to an AI-provider such as Open AI or Anthropic–they supply the image analysis capabilities while Drupal handles the image uploads and text editing.

Effective integration with cloud services can significantly enhance the success of your Drupal-based website. Drupal is a powerful content management system, particularly when it comes to leveraging cloud technology. 
Our Golems team can confidently say that effective and competent integration with cloud services can bring colossal success to your Drupal-based website. This powerful platform has amazing capabilities for interacting with the most popular "clouds."