WordPress AI chat plugins make 6–11 outbound requests per visitor question. Architecture writeup of an alternative.

Ai/blog/why-your-ai-chatbot-is-a-tracker. Cross-posted here for the de.to community. Last week we sat in a café in Wien with a friend - a freelance de who's been shipping WordPress sites for a decade. He'd just installed an AI chat plugin for a client, a small cosmetics brand. It looked nice. Brand colors, custom name. Then he opened the network tab. "Three. Four. Five." He scrolled. "Eight. Wait - eleven? Where is this one going?" Eleven outbound requests. Per visitor question. Before the bot's reply finishes rendering.