Exploring Umbraco AI for end users

Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming part of everyday content management, helping editorial teams create, improve and manage content more efficiently. With the introduction of Umbraco AI, organisations using Umbraco can now access AI-powered features directly within the CMS, without fundamentally changing the way their teams work.

Rather than embedding a single AI solution into the platform, Umbraco has taken a flexible approach. AI capabilities are delivered through optional, open-source packages, allowing organisations to decide which features they want to use, which AI providers they trust, and how AI fits into their existing content workflows.

AI on your terms

One of the defining features of Umbraco AI is that it isn't tied to a single large language model (LLM) or provider. Instead, organisations can connect their preferred AI service, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, Amazon Bedrock, Microsoft AI Foundry and several others.

This flexibility allows businesses to choose different models depending on their requirements. For example, one model may be better suited to creative marketing content, while another may offer stronger summarisation or analysis capabilities. Because AI providers evolve rapidly, this approach also makes it easier to switch providers in the future without changing the CMS itself.

Supporting content editors

Umbraco AI is designed to work within the editorial experience rather than alongside it. Instead of copying content into external AI tools, editors can use AI features directly where they are already working.

Typical use cases include:

• Drafting new content

• Rewriting or refining existing copy

• Creating SEO metadata

• Generating image descriptions

• Producing page summaries

• Checking spelling and grammar

• Suggesting alternative headlines

Because these actions are integrated into the back office, editors can review, edit and approve AI-generated content before publishing, ensuring human oversight remains part of the content creation process.

Creating different AI personalities

Not every piece of content should sound the same. Marketing pages, technical documentation, legal information and customer support articles all require different styles and levels of formality.

Umbraco AI addresses this through AI Profiles, which allow administrators to configure different behaviours, prompts and models for different content types or departments. Each profile can define elements such as tone of voice, creativity, instructions and even which AI model should be used for a particular task.

This helps maintain consistency while ensuring AI-generated content remains appropriate for its intended audience.

Governance and control

For many organisations, adopting AI isn't simply about generating content—it's about doing so responsibly.

Umbraco includes governance features that allow administrators to control how AI is used across the platform. These include:

• Role-based permissions to determine who can access AI features

• Guardrails that inspect prompts before they're sent to an AI provider

• Validation of AI responses before they're presented to editors

• Logging and audit trails that record AI activity

• Testing tools to evaluate prompts and compare AI models

These capabilities help organisations protect sensitive information, enforce brand guidelines and support compliance requirements while still benefiting from AI-assisted workflows.

Meet Umbraco Copilot

For more complex tasks, Umbraco Copilot acts as an AI assistant within the CMS.

Rather than responding to isolated prompts, Copilot understands the context of the page being edited and can assist with larger editorial tasks. These include creating new pages, generating content from website context or external sources, suggesting improvements, identifying missing information and helping editors review content quality.

Importantly, Copilot doesn't publish content automatically. Every recommendation is reviewed and approved by an editor, ensuring people remain in control of what appears on the website.

A modular approach to AI

One of the most interesting aspects of Umbraco's AI strategy is that AI isn't built into the CMS core. Instead, it sits on top of the platform as a collection of optional packages.

This modular approach means organisations can introduce AI gradually, adopting only the features they find valuable while leaving the underlying CMS stable and familiar. As AI technology continues to evolve, businesses can add new capabilities, change providers or update models without undertaking a major CMS migration.

What about cost?

The Umbraco AI packages themselves are open source and available without subscription fees. Organisations only pay the AI provider they choose based on their own usage, allowing costs to remain transparent and under their control.

For existing Umbraco users, the primary implementation cost is the configuration and integration work needed to tailor AI features to their website and editorial processes. Current AI packages are designed for modern versions of Umbraco, including Umbraco 17 and later.

In summary

AI is unlikely to replace experienced content editors, but it can significantly reduce the time spent on repetitive tasks and provide useful support throughout the content creation process.

Umbraco's approach focuses on flexibility, governance and human oversight rather than automation for its own sake. By allowing organisations to choose their own AI providers, configure behaviour through reusable profiles and keep editors firmly in control, Umbraco AI provides a practical framework for introducing AI into everyday content management while remaining adaptable as the technology continues to evolve.

See it in action

Contact us to book a free live demo and we’ll show you how Umbraco AI works, discuss how it could fit into your website, and answer any questions you have. Whether you're an existing Umbraco user or considering it as your next CMS of choice, we'll tailor the demo to what you want to know.