Umbraco and AI: everything you need to know
AI has worked its way into most CMS discussions over the past couple of years, but many are still unsure what role it plays in practice.
For organisations running on Umbraco, AI tools can be used as an extension of what is already there. This means supporting content teams, improving structure, and refining user experience. What AI doesn’t do in Umbraco is fundamentally change how the platform operates.
This article explores how AI fits into your Umbraco setup - not in theory, but in terms of day-to-day use and the trade-offs that come with it.
AI in Umbraco: what can you expect
Within Umbraco, AI is best thought of as a layer of tools that connects to your content, rather than a single feature.
These tools are usually powered by external services such as OpenAI or Microsoft Azure, and brought into Umbraco through APIs, packages, or custom integrations.
Umbraco’s official integration layer - called ‘Umbraco AI’ – can now connect to most AI providers directly in the backend to help you analyse data, create content, and provide automated chat support.
Importantly, AI is only useful when the tools understand your content structure, tone of voice, audience, USPs and the way your organisation works, which is why human review remains critical. Without that, outputs tend to be generic and fall into an echo chamber of similar online content.
Key Use Cases for AI in Umbraco
Content Creation and Editing
Content production is often the first area where teams feel a shift. Drafting, summarising and reshaping copy moves faster, particularly when the same content needs to work across different formats and audiences. Localisation also becomes more manageable, though a careful review is still recommended to address what AI can miss.
Content Tagging and Organisation
As your content grows, it’s easy for things to get a bit messy. AI can help by suggesting categories, generating metadata, and applying tags more consistently than doing it all manually. You might not notice the difference straight away, but over time, especially as your content library expands, it becomes much easier to find, organise, and make the most of what you’ve created.
Personalisation and User Experience
AI helps make personalisation more practical. By analysing user behaviour, it can adapt what people see, whether that’s suggesting relevant content or subtly tweaking messaging based on context. That said, it only really works when it’s connected to the right systems. Linking AI with your CRM or data platform is what makes those experiences feel joined-up and genuinely useful.
Data analysis
By connecting AI tools to your sales or backend data, you can analyse trends and seasonality, allowing for more targeted messaging.
Search and Discovery
Rather than relying only on keywords, AI-driven search can interpret intent and respond to more natural queries. This becomes particularly useful on larger sites, where traditional search often struggles to surface the right results.
Automation and Workflows
Routine tasks such as content checks, approval steps, or identifying outdated material can be supported by AI. While it doesn’t remove oversight, it reduces the amount of manual effort required to maintain quality.
How AI is integrated into Umbraco
Due to Umbraco’s flexibility, AI can be introduced in a few different ways, depending on what is needed.
APIs: External services such as OpenAI or Microsoft Azure can be connected directly. This allows for tailored functionality, suited to your specific requirements.
Umbraco packages: The Umbraco Marketplace includes a growing number of AI-focused tools. These can provide a starting point, although they are not always sufficient on their own.
Custom backoffice integrations: For more advanced use cases, AI can be built directly into the backoffice. This tends to create a smoother experience for editors and aligns more closely with existing workflows.
Popular Umbraco AI Tools and Packages
The Umbraco marketplace now offers a growing range of AI tools, typically grouped into a few core categories. These are designed to support different parts of the content lifecycle, from creation through to delivery and optimisation.
Common categories include:
Content assistants: Tools that help generate, summarise, tag, and optimise content directly within the Umbraco backoffice.
Chatbot integrations: Conversational tools that enable real-time user interaction, support queries, and guide users through content.
Workflow and automation tools: Solutions that automate repetitive tasks such as metadata generation, content updates, and approval processes.
The challenge is not a lack of options but choosing the right combination for your specific goals. Not every tool will suit every setup, and introducing multiple solutions without a clear purpose can create unnecessary complexity. Connecting both Gemini and Claude, for example, could cause inconsistencies, hallucinations, and mistakes.
A more focused, use-case-led approach usually delivers better results. This is where working with a technical, experienced partner like I-Finity can make a difference.
Contact us today to see how we can help.
Benefits of Using AI in Umbraco
When used thoughtfully, AI can make a real difference to how your team works day to day.
Some of the key benefits include:
Faster content production without increasing headcount
Greater consistency across content
Improved search and user experience
More effective use of internal resources
These improvements might feel small at first, but they build over time, leading to a more efficient workflow and a stronger overall content experience.
Challenges and Considerations
While AI brings clear benefits, there are a few areas that need careful thought to achieve the best results.
Content quality control: Outputs can vary, so review processes remain important.
Governance and approvals: Clear guidelines help ensure AI is used appropriately, particularly in regulated environments.
Data privacy and security: Understanding how data is handled by external services is essential.
Over-reliance on automation: AI works best as support, not as a replacement for decision-making.
Integration complexity: Poor implementation can introduce unnecessary complications, especially in legacy setups.
With the right approach, these challenges are manageable. It’s less about avoiding AI, and more about putting the right structure around how it’s used.
How to Approach AI Implementation in Umbraco
Taking a structured approach makes AI much easier to manage and far more likely to deliver real value.
1. Start with a clear use case:
Focus on solving a specific problem rather than trying to do everything at once. Whether it’s speeding up content creation or improving tagging, clarity upfront makes a big difference.
2. Choose the right integration method:
Decide whether a ready-made package, API integration, or custom solution best fits your needs. It’s about choosing what’s practical, not just what’s possible.
3. Test outputs properly:
Before rolling anything out, take time to validate the quality, accuracy, and compliance of what the AI produces.
4. Put governance in place:
Set clear guidelines around how AI should be used, reviewed, and approved. This is especially important for maintaining consistency and staying compliant.
5. Scale gradually:
Build on what works. Starting small and expanding over time tends to deliver better, more sustainable results than trying to scale too quickly.
This kind of measured approach helps reduce risk, while still giving you the flexibility to explore where AI can add the most value.
Why a Technical Approach Matters
AI decisions connect back to architecture, integrations, and performance.
Without that foundation, even well-chosen tools can feel disconnected or difficult to maintain. When approached properly, AI becomes part of the wider platform rather than something layered on top.
That distinction often determines whether it delivers long-term value or short-term novelty.
Conclusion
AI is becoming an increasingly valuable part of the Umbraco ecosystem, but the real impact comes down to how it’s used in practice. When done well, AI can support steady, meaningful improvements in how content is created, managed, and delivered over time.
If you’re exploring how AI could fit into your Umbraco setup, I-Finity can help you take a practical, technically-led approach, identify the right opportunities, integrate the right tools, and ensure everything works seamlessly with your existing platform.
