PHP popularity has dropped dramatically, coinciding with WordPress becoming "JavaScript-first" according to its co-creator Matt Mullenweg.

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PHP usage has declined by 40% in just over 2 years, with WordPress moving away from PHP and into JavaScript being a major reason for the decline. The PHP Foundation has been formed to address PHP's public image and continue active development.

Why PHP Usage Has Declined by 40% in Just Over 2 Years

because all new PHP projects and tools want to be FANCY and CLEVER, will require CLI access and owner permissions just for a “hello world” install (artisan, composer, nodejs, etc)
just add an install file or db dump, you are NOT software, not an APP just a script, get over yourselves

For me the conclusion in this article is quite missleading. The Articel sounds like Wordpress is getting away from its PHP Core. Actually it justs says that Wordpress will put most effort into Gutenberg which is JavaScript based.
If you look at the updates within the last 2 years. This is nothing new.

Where did you get 40% from? Source?

This is because asynchronous programming is much simpler in JavaScript. On the other hand Python is the first choice for deploying AI/ML models. It now even supports async/await like JavaScript.

I’m not convinced by this story about wordpress becoming JS-first. On the other hand, there are more and more solutions in JS. I imagine that, soon, in development schools, the term PHP won’t even be mentioned. That’s a more significant factor than gutenberg, I think.