The Sulu AI Manifesto
Sulu CMS is entering a transformative phase: The upcoming Sulu AI Bundle and Sulu.ai service will change the way writers, editors, and content managers create and manage content. AI is still rapidly evolving and we are committed to adapting with it. This is our manifesto to clarify our use of AI, our commitment to open source, and our stance on AI’s role in both open source and commercial ecosystems.
Sulu’s integration of AI technology is designed to empower humans in their creative and technical work—never to replace them—by providing both open source foundations and optional commercial services that respect our commitment to quality content, user autonomy, and a truly open web.
I. Our AI Vision: Open source at heart, intelligent by design
We believe AI should empower people, not leave them behind.
Content Management Systems (CMSs) have stood the test of time. While their core concepts remain unchanged, AI is reshaping how we create and manage content.
The AI ecosystem evolves rapidly, with new breakthroughs happening every few months. While large language models (LLMs) enhance efficiency and creativity, AI-driven tools must be deployed ethically and transparently in open-source CMS systems.
Sulu is committed to responsible AI adoption, ensuring that technical innovation strengthens human creativity rather than replacing it.
II. The transformative potential of AI in web publishing
Generative AI is fundamentally reshaping how we create and manage content. While CMS concepts have remained unchanged for years, generative AI is transforming workflows for writers, designers, SEO specialists, and content managers. LLMs can assist writers with style and grammar, translations and SEO, and searching and summarizing content, among many other tasks.
This transformation opens up new possibilities but should not be taken lightly. Content creators and managers have to develop new skills while letting go of old practices. At the same time, CMS providers have to find ways to embrace these new technologies responsibly while staying true to their open source commitments.
III. Core principles of our AI approach
Sulu doesn’t jump on the AI train without knowing where it’s headed. Every step we take with AI is guided by core principles.
AI is a supportive tool, not a replacement
We are committed to human-centered content creation. As the web fills with mediocre machine-generated content, we see AI not as a replacement but as a versatile assistant for content creators and managers.
AI-driven content management should assist humans in writing authentic content that reflects their thoughts, in their own words.
Maintaining our open source commitment
The LLM market is dominated by large companies developing closed-source, commercial models. This poses a challenge for open source software, as integrating these commercial services while upholding the principles of open source can be difficult.
Sulu promises to keep the Sulu core 100% open source. AI integrations will remain optional and never become part of the core product.
We do acknowledge that commercial offerings can help sustain open source development. Many successful open source projects demonstrate this harmonious relationship, typically as a core open source product to self-host and a hosted-for-you service. We embrace this way of sustaining open source while strictly keeping a fully usable open source core product.
The Sulu philosophy: framework vs. features
From the very beginning of Sulu CMS, we have followed a fundamental principle: Our core product provides a solid, flexible foundation for building custom CMS systems. Core Sulu CMS should never force users into rigid or biased workflows. Instead, we rely on our partners, integration providers, and Sulu developers to shape the core system to fit their client’s needs.
This philosophy extends seamlessly into our AI concept. We don’t force AI upon Sulu users. Instead, we offer optional building blocks to use and extend.
Flexibility and customization are what sets Sulu apart. This does not change in the era of AI.
IV. The Sulu AI ecosystem: open source and commercial
Open source is about freedom, not just cost. It goes well together with commercial offerings, as long as the principles of open source aren’t sacrificed.
We stand on a foundation of open source AI
Sulu is a complete, fully usable open source CMS, and so is our AI integration. The framework, APIs, and integration points are fully functional and available to everyone, empowering developers to build custom AI solutions on top of Sulu CMS.
Sulu.ai: our commercial AI services
Our hosted Sulu.ai service is designed for those who prefer a turnkey solution over managing AI functionality locally. We’ve handled the development, so you don’t have to.
We don’t lock away core Sulu AI features. Everything offered by the Sulu.ai service, beyond what’s available in the Sulu AI Bundle, can also be built and customized by you. Sulu.ai simply saves you time and resources, eliminating the effort of building these extra services yourself.
That’s our value proposition: useful services with no lock-in.
V. Practical applications and benefits
Sulu focuses on adding useful, meaningful features—not feature bloat. AI services, especially LLMs, offer proven benefits for anyone working with text and media. And of course, using the Sulu AI bundle or the Sulu.ai service remains entirely optional.
Efficiency enhancements for content creators
Writers, editors, and content managers, can leverage LLMs in various ways to work faster or with less effort—and usually both.
- Translation: Multilingual websites become affordable to create and feasible to manage. AI-powered text translation has reached an impressive level of accuracy and is available at your fingertips.
- Grammar and style improvements: Need a quick grammar check or a better synonym? LLMs can provide instant suggestions—no need to sift through grammar tables and thesauruses.
- Content structuring assistance: A generated outline can help overcome writer’s block or support writers in finding the most compelling line of reasoning for the next article.
- SEO support: Search engine optimization often feels like a mix of science and intuition. LLMs can check if articles adhere to SEO guidelines and best practices.
- Accessibility features: Alt texts and meta descriptions of images help categorize content and make media accessible to vision-impaired visitors. AI can examine images and auto-generate this information, including translations.
Enhancing content quality
Speed matters—but not at the cost of quality. We think that LLMs can do more than prevent quality issues; they can actively enhance content.
LLMs aren’t built for writing full text (yet). Machine-generated content often feels generic and easy to spot. However, LLMs shine as helpful assistants for tasks such as:
- Reviewing text for grammar, style, and tone
- Researching topics
- Generating outlines or brainstorming bullet lists of ideas
- Finding examples or new aspects to include
AI-powered tools are particularly helpful for content creators with limited resources, leading to measurable improvements in content workflows and results.
VI. Our ongoing commitment and future direction
Sulu has a clear vision for AI-enhanced content management and continues exploring the possibilities of this technology. We are at the very first iteration of creating an AI-supported CMS, with more functionality to be added in the future. At the same time, we take care not to enforce AI adoption. Every AI feature in Sulu remains entirely optional, and we welcome constructive feedback and invite our community to get involved in shaping our AI projects.
We are excited to open this new chapter of innovation in CMS technology, and with the same excitement, we remain fully committed to open source.
Sulu’s evolution may take unexpected turns but always aims at empowering humans through technology.
