What are Experimental Tools?

The Experimental Tools section in your Newspack Settings is where you can opt in to AI-powered features we’re actively developing. These tools are functional and supported, but still evolving based on publisher feedback.

Everything in this section is off by default. No AI features appear in the post editor until a site administrator deliberately enables them. You can turn any tool off at any time, and disabling a tool does not affect any content you’ve already published.

Who can enable Experimental Tools?

Only site administrators can see and manage the Experimental Tools section. Editors, authors, and other user roles cannot enable or disable these tools.

Once an administrator enables a tool, all users on the site who work in the post/page editor will see the tool’s features. If your newsroom needs to discuss whether to adopt these tools (including any considerations around editorial policy or union agreements) we recommend having that conversation before an administrator enables anything.

How your content is handled

When you use an Experimental Tool, the content of the post or newsletter you’re working on is sent to OpenAI’s API to generate suggestions. Here’s what you should know:

  • Your content is retained by OpenAI for up to 30 days for abuse monitoring purposes. After 30 days, it is automatically deleted from OpenAI’s systems.
  • Your content is not used to train OpenAI’s models. It is not indexed by OpenAI and cannot surface in ChatGPT or any other OpenAI product. Other OpenAI users cannot see or access your content.
  • No content is ever published automatically. Every suggestion these tools generate appears as a draft or recommendation that you review, edit, and decide whether to use.
  • We are working to reduce the 30-day retention window. When that change is in place, your content will be processed in real time with no data stored by OpenAI at all. We’ll update this documentation when that happens.

Roundup Block

What it does

The Roundup Block helps you draft summaries of selected posts. Primarily built with newsletter generation in mind, this block can technically be used anywhere. Select a set of posts, and it generates a draft summary for each one. The output appears in the editor where you can review, edit, rewrite, or discard it before publishing.

Think of it as a first draft, not a finished product. It saves you the time of writing each summary from scratch, but every word that goes out is still your call.

How to use it

  1. Open the newsletter editor and create or edit a newsletter.
  2. Add the Roundup block and select your desired posts or categories.

Customizing with Editorial Guidelines

You can shape how the Roundup Block writes by adding editorial guidelines in the tool’s settings.

To add or edit your guidelines:

  1. Go to Newspack > Settings > Experimental Tools.
  2. Click on the Newsletter Generation Assistant card (it must be enabled).
  3. Find the Editorial Guidelines text field.
  4. Describe your newsroom’s voice, tone, audience, and any preferences. For example:
    • “We write for a local audience in the Midwest. Keep summaries conversational and under two sentences.”
    • “Our tone is straightforward and serious. Avoid casual language.”
    • “Never use the word ‘folks.’ Always refer to our city as ‘Springfield,’ not ‘the Springfield area.'”
  5. Save your changes. Your guidelines apply to every summary the tool generates going forward.

If you leave the guidelines blank, the tool uses sensible defaults. You can update your guidelines at any time.

Editorial Assistant

What it does

The Editorial Assistant is a sidebar panel in the WordPress post editor that offers AI-generated suggestions as you work on an article. It’s designed to support your editorial process, not replace it. Every suggestion is something you can use, modify, or ignore.

It currently includes three features:

  • Headlines: Generates alternative headline options for your article, optimized for different contexts like search engines, social media, and general clarity. Each suggestion includes a brief note explaining why it might work well.
  • Key Takeaways: Identifies the three main points from your article that readers should remember. These are useful for TLDR sections, newsletter summaries, social posts, or simply checking that your article communicates what you intended.
  • Pull Quotes: Finds two or three compelling sentences from your article that stand out as strong standalone quotes. Each comes with a note on why it was selected. Useful for web layout, social sharing, or print design.

How to use it

  1. Open any post in the WordPress post editor.
  2. Look for the Editorial Assistant panel in the editor sidebar. (If you don’t see it, check that the sidebar is open and look for the Editorial Assistant icon.)
  3. Click on the feature you want to use: Headlines, Key Takeaways, or Pull Quotes.
  4. The tool analyzes the current content of your post and generates suggestions.
  5. Review the suggestions. For each one, you can:
    • Copy the text and paste it where you’d like to use it
    • Use it as inspiration and write your own version
    • Ignore it entirely

The Editorial Assistant works on the content currently in your editor. If you make significant changes to your article, you can regenerate suggestions to get updated results.

Tips for getting the best results

  • Write your article first. The Editorial Assistant works best when it has a complete or near-complete draft to analyze. Running it on a few sentences won’t give you useful suggestions.
  • Headlines work best with a clear lead. If your article has a strong opening that establishes the topic, the headline suggestions will be more relevant.
  • Key Takeaways reflect what’s in the text. If an important point isn’t showing up in the takeaways, that might be a signal that it needs more emphasis in your article.
  • Pull Quotes are selected for standalone impact. The tool looks for sentences that make sense without surrounding context — useful for social sharing and layout.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use these tools if my newsroom has an AI policy?

That depends on your policy. We’ve designed Experimental Tools so that the decision to use them is deliberate and controlled:

  • Tools are off by default and require an administrator to enable them.
  • Nothing is published automatically. All output is a draft or suggestion.
  • You can disable any tool at any time.

We recommend reviewing your newsroom’s AI policy and discussing with your team before enabling any tools.

Does enabling a tool change anything on my live site?

No. Enabling a tool makes it available in the relevant post editor. It does not add, change, or remove any published content. The tools only generate suggestions when you actively use them.

What happens if I disable a tool?

The tool disappears from the editor. Any content you previously created or edited with the tool’s help remains unchanged — it’s your content. Disabling a tool does not retroactively affect anything.

Can I control which staff members have access?

Currently, when an administrator enables a tool, it’s available to all users on the site who have access to the edit posts. Per-user access controls are not available at this time. If this is important for your newsroom, let us know through the feedback form.

How much does this cost?

There are no additional fees for Experimental Tools. The AI processing costs are covered by Newspack.

I have feedback or something isn’t working right.

We want to hear it. You can reach out in Slack, or use the feedback form linked from your Experimental Tools settings. Your input directly shapes what these tools become.

Giving feedback

After you’ve used an Experimental Tool for a while, you’ll see a short prompt in your WordPress admin asking for feedback. It takes about two minutes and helps us understand what’s working and what isn’t.

You can also share feedback at any time through Slack or the feedback form linked in the Experimental Tools settings page. We’re building these tools based on what publishers actually need, and we can only do that if we hear from you.

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