Looking into the future of Drupal AI

AI has dominated conversations across the tech industry the past 2 years, with adoption accelerating fast in both personal and professional contexts. For those of us in the tech community, this represents an extraordinary period of innovation. We're witnessing such rapid advancement that new possibilities emerge daily, inspiring fresh approaches to digital solutions that can truly empower our clients and partner organizations. Today, Dries Buytaert, Founder and Project Lead of Drupal, announced the Drupal AI initiative. This marks a significant step in the development of the Drupal ecosystem, where 1xINTERNET has taken a leading role in close collaboration with four peer organisations.

1xINTERNET and the Drupal AI Initiative

During the last couple of months, part of our team has been working on the initiative with a group of leaders in Drupal, to scope the future of Drupal in the AI universe. 

As one of the largest open source projects in the world it is vital Drupal takes the lead in setting standards in how AI can be implemented responsibly, with governance infrastructure that upholds quality and compliance across all digital experiences. It’s important and valuable that we allow end users to choose the AI technologies that best suit their needs, avoid vendor lock-in, and benefit from community-driven innovation. The Drupal AI strategy covers these themes comprehensively.

It takes a village

After investing hundreds of hours into this initiative, we want to give a huge shoutout to the founding members who made it all happen. This level of dedication and commitment is what turned vision into reality.

Without these incredible people working constructively towards a shared vision, none of this would have been possible.

Bright community builds bright future

The Drupal AI initiative introduces several key components to advance AI integration in Drupal. The initiative establishes a comprehensive strategy that outlines Drupal's AI vision and sets clear priorities for development. Leadership comes from a dedicated AI team responsible for steering product direction, securing funding, and facilitating collaboration across different work streams.

Governance and oversight are provided by a strategic advisory board comprising representatives from the Drupal Association, the Drupal CMS leadership team, sponsors, and various stakeholders, Dries Buytaert included. The initiative is backed by substantial resources, including a funded execution team with 10 full-time equivalent positions already secured. This operational team brings together technical leads, user experience designers, project managers, and release coordinators.

Active development is organized through specialized work tracks that focus on distinct areas including AI Core functionality, AI products, AI marketing applications, and AI UX design. The initiative also creates pathways for broader community participation, enabling more contributors to engage with AI development efforts across the Drupal platform.

Why was the Drupal AI initiative necessary? 

The Drupal ecosystem has shown remarkable innovation in AI integration, with over 290 AI modules developed by the community and established connections to 21 major AI providers including OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS Bedrock, Azure, Google Gemini, Google Vertex, and Hugging Face. This extensive foundation represents thousands of hours of community development and showcases Drupal's adaptability to emerging technologies.

However, as Dries Buytaert has observed: "Drupal already has a strong AI foundation. The community has built a wide range of AI modules over the past couple of years. What we are doing now is turning that creative energy into a coordinated product vision."

Coordinated product vision and strategic leadership

This initiative transforms creative community energy into strategic advantage. Our role has been instrumental in defining a comprehensive product vision that balances innovation with practicality, developing a strategic roadmap that prioritizes high impact features, and coordinating alignment between core contributors, enterprise users, hosting providers, and end users across industries.

Who will benefit from Drupal AI? 

As AI fundamentally transforms how businesses operate, 1xINTERNET is committed to ensuring our clients stay ahead with the most advanced technology available. With a leadership position in Drupal AI, we also offer comprehensive in-house expertise, enabling us to deliver state-of-the-art AI solutions tailored directly to our clients’ needs.

Our strategic investment in developing this expertise internally means clients will not need to rely on external agencies or  third-party solutions. Instead, they benefit from professionally integrated AI capabilities that are built for the Drupal ecosystem, delivered with the quality and innovation that defines 1xINTERNET's approach to digital excellence.