[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #65340: Add granular process control in Connectors UI

[WordPress Trac]

#65340: Add granular process control in Connectors UI
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 Reporter:  amykamala    |       Owner:  (none)
     Type:  enhancement  |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal       |   Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  AI           |     Version:
 Severity:  normal       |  Resolution:
 Keywords:               |     Focuses:
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Comment (by GeekStreetWP):

 Thanks for opening this, Amy and for reaching out directly.

 This ticket addresses the rate limiting and control side of the problem,
 which is important. I want to add a layer that I think is equally urgent.
 The informed consent gap that exists before any of those controls come
 into play.

 The documentation you linked, the 7.0 field guide and the dev note, does a
 solid job explaining the technical API surface to developers. But there is
 currently nothing in the WordPress admin UI, on the Connectors screen
 itself, or in any end-user-facing documentation that explains to a non-
 technical site owner what they are actually doing when they enter an API
 key. And this is what I'm advocating for. Clean, human readable text that
 says "KNOW THIS FIRST" or something. Of course, users can skip that link
 as well and we still end up in the same place where a user was charged
 separately from their Claude PRO/MAX plan. However, something clearly
 defining the connection process and explaining that there WILL BE COSTS
 for using the API is the over all goal.


 == Specifically, most users do not know

 1. That an API key is a separate billing relationship from any AI
 subscription they already pay for. Claude Pro, ChatGPT Plus,  none of
 those subscriptions cover API usage. A user who connects their Anthropic
 key thinking it extends their existing account is about to be billed in a
 way they did not anticipate.

 2. That every plugin which hooks into the Connectors screen shares that
 same API budget, with no visibility into which plugin is consuming what.
 (This is explained somewhat in the links you sent over - but this needs to
 be clear as day and human readable.

 3. That certain AI-assisted features like title suggestions, content
 rewrites and excerpt generation can fire multiple API calls in a single
 session without any indication that each interaction has a cost. A user
 who clicks "suggest a title" ten times has made ten round trips to the
 API. They have no way to know that. and they have no idea how many tokens
 were used per each. In my experience "suggest a title" features would need
 to read the content on each click of a button. That might require the AI
 model to read the content of the page/post on each click of a button to
 suggest a title. Hopefully, a plugin would come up with a way to suggest
 more than 1 title and offset the cost. However, in the examples I've seen
 online, these suggest 1 title. That's a lot of token burning and the end
 user may not know that.

 4. Information knowing that a user can connect to MCP and use the
 WordPress Abilities API to do the same tasks (and this method does use
 their current AI Claude Pro/MAX budget would be a nice touch. That does
 require some technical setup and making sure that is clear is important.
 But the overall message here is that there are more ways to use AI in and
 with WordPress other then just the connectors screen and inside the
 dashboard.

 The rate limiting and process control this ticket proposes would help
 manage costs once a user is already connected and I am all for that.
 However, the more immediate problem is that users are connecting without
 understanding what they're agreeing to or knowing that the end user is
 responsible for setting a spending cap on the AI API site to ensure that
 the user is never charged more than what is approved.

 The practical fix is straightforward: the Connectors screen should include
 a prominent, plain-language notice & linked directly to documentation
 above where the inputs are for a user to enter an API key. Not buried in a
 help tooltip. Not in a field guide written for developers. Something
 visible, in plain English, that says: this connects to an external paid
 service, billed separately from any AI subscription you have, and usage
 costs real money/monies.

 The dev notes and field guide you linked are good resources. But they
 should be one of the first things a user sees on that screen. A "read this
 before you connect" link that sets honest expectations before the key goes
 in.

 I'm SUPER supportive of AI features in WordPress. A well-implemented
 Connectors screen could genuinely open the platform to a new generation of
 users. But that opportunity depends on those users being informed before
 they're committed, not after the bill arrives.

 My goal here is to look out for the end users who are brand new to WP or
 maybe more of a site owner and not the technical developer side of things.
 It's one thing to have a plugin help you. But it's another thing with a
 poorly written prompt that can cost the end user some real money if not
 used carefully.

 Happy to contribute further thinking on what that user-facing
 documentation should say.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/65340#comment:2>
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