Learning objectives
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
- Identify the eight writing assistance experiments available in the WordPress AI Plugin and where each one is enabled
- Explain the difference between Excerpt Generation, Content Summarization, and Meta Description Generation and the purpose of each
- Apply writing assistance tools at the appropriate stage of drafting and editing a post
- Evaluate which tool to use for a given writing task based on where the output appears and who it is for
Enabling writing assistance features
All features in this lesson are individual toggles in Settings > AI > Editor Experiments. Enable each one you want to use. Changes take effect immediately in the block editor.
The experiments covered in this lesson are: Title Generation, Excerpt Generation, Content Summarization, Meta Description Generation, Content Resizing, Type-ahead Text, Content Translation, and Slug Generation.
Writing as you go: Type-ahead Text
Type-ahead Text works differently from the other features in this lesson. Rather than generating content on demand, it offers ghost text suggestions continuously as you write paragraphs in the block editor.
As you type, faded text appears ahead of your cursor suggesting how the sentence or paragraph might continue. Press Tab to accept the suggestion, or keep typing to ignore it and write your own continuation.
Type-ahead Text is useful when you know roughly what you want to say but need a nudge to keep moving. It works best for body content in longer posts, where maintaining momentum matters more than precision at the drafting stage.
Generating a title
When Title Generation is enabled and your post has body content, a Generate button appears above the title field in the block editor. Click it and the AI analyzes your content and returns title suggestions in a modal. Browse the options, choose one, and click Select to insert it into the title field. Click Regenerate for a fresh set of suggestions.
Title Generation works best after you have written your body content, because the AI uses what you have written to propose relevant options.
💡 Why this matters for you: Title Generation takes the pressure off finding the right angle yourself. You can write your content first and let the AI propose titles based on what you actually wrote, rather than trying to lock in a headline before the draft exists.
Writing your excerpt
The post excerpt is the short summary WordPress displays in blog listings, feeds, and anywhere a preview of your content appears. Left unwritten, WordPress trims the body text automatically. Excerpt Generation drafts a proper excerpt based on your full post content.
With Excerpt Generation enabled, open the Settings sidebar in the block editor and look for the Generate Excerpt button in the Excerpt section. Click it and the AI returns a draft excerpt. Review it, edit as needed, and save.
Summarizing your content
Content Summarization is a separate feature from Excerpt Generation, and the distinction matters.
Where Excerpt Generation creates post metadata used in feeds and listings, Content Summarization inserts a Content Summary block directly into the post body. Your readers see this summary inline, before the full content. It is useful for long-form posts where you want to orient readers before they read in full.
With Content Summarization enabled, a Generate AI Summary button appears in the Settings sidebar. Click it and a Content Summary block is inserted into the post. You can reposition, edit, or delete the block like any other block.
💡 Why this matters for you: Excerpt Generation and Content Summarization serve different readers. The excerpt is for people discovering your post. The content summary is for readers who opened the post and want a quick orientation. You can use both on the same post.
Translating your content
Content Translation lets you translate a post without leaving the block editor. After selecting a target language, the experiment translates supported Paragraph and Heading blocks, and you can also choose to translate the post title. The translated content replaces what’s in the editor, so review it carefully before publishing, the same way you would review any other AI-generated output in this lesson.
This is a full replacement, not a side-by-side comparison, so consider working from a duplicate of the post if you want to keep the original language version alongside the translation.
💡 Why this matters for you: Content Translation is a starting draft, not a substitute for a fluent reviewer. Machine translation can miss idiom, tone, and cultural context, especially in longer or more nuanced posts. Treat the output the same way you’d treat an AI-generated excerpt: read it closely before you publish.
Adding a meta description
Meta Description Generation is built into the block editor. In the Post tab of the Settings panel, scroll to the Meta Description section and click Generate Meta Description. The AI drafts a description based on your post content. If an SEO plugin is installed, the feature also integrates with that plugin’s meta description field. Review and edit the description before publishing.
Generating a slug
Slug Generation suggests a concise, search-friendly permalink based on your post’s title and content. Suggestions are available from the permalink controls and again during the pre-publish flow, so you can generate one early or wait until the post is closer to final.
Review the suggestion before applying it. You can also edit it manually: the interface previews how your edited text will be normalized into a valid slug, and it prevents you from applying anything that can’t produce one.
💡 Why this matters for you: A good slug is short, readable, and reflects what the post is actually about, which matters for both readers scanning a URL and for search visibility. Generating one from your finished content is more reliable than guessing at a slug before you’ve written the post.
Resizing blocks
Content Resizing gives you three ways to rewrite selected block content without leaving the editor: Shorten, Expand, and Rephrase.
Select the block you want to rewrite, then look for the resize option in the block toolbar that appears above the block. Choose an option, review the suggestion, and accept or discard it.
- Shorten tightens the content
- Expand adds detail and context
- Rephrase rewrites with different phrasing while preserving meaning
Note for hands-on practice: All features in this lesson require a live connected AI provider and cannot be tested in WordPress Playground.
Key terms
| Term | Definition |
| Type-ahead Text | An Editor Experiment that displays ghost text suggestions ahead of your cursor as you write in the block editor. |
| Title Generation | An Editor Experiment that proposes title options in a modal when you click into the title field, based on your post’s body content. |
| Excerpt | A short summary of a post stored as post metadata. Displayed in blog listings, feeds, and search results. |
| Excerpt Generation | An Editor Experiment that generates a post excerpt using AI based on the post’s full content. |
| Content Summarization | An Editor Experiment that inserts a Content Summary block into the post body, providing readers an inline overview before the full content. |
| Content Summary block | A block added to the post body by Content Summarization. Visible to readers as part of the post. |
| Content Translation | An Editor Experiment that translates supported Paragraph and Heading blocks, and optionally the post title, into a selected target language, replacing the original content in the editor. |
| Meta description | A short snippet in post metadata that search engines display beneath your page title in search results. Separate from the excerpt and content summary. |
| Meta Description Generation | An Editor Experiment that generates a meta description and integrates it with installed SEO plugins. |
| Slug Generation | An Editor Experiment that suggests a concise, search-friendly permalink slug based on a post’s title and content, available from the permalink controls and the pre-publish flow. |
| Content Resizing | An Editor Experiment that lets you shorten, expand, or rephrase selected block content. |
✅ Check your understanding
- You have written a 2,000-word guide and want to help three different audiences: readers finding your post in a search engine, readers who land on the page and want to decide whether to read the full thing, and readers who are already reading and want a quick overview. Which three features would you use, and where does each one appear?
- After enabling Type-ahead Text, you find that the suggestions are slowing you down rather than helping. What does this tell you about how AI writing assistance tools work best, and how would you adjust your approach?
Up next: Practical: Draft with AI writing tools gives you a chance to apply these tools to a post of your own.