HTML Inputs for the AI Era

The web is built on a foundation of simple, intuitive inputs <input type="text">, <input type="file">, <textarea>, and so on. These primitives have powered the internet for decades. But as AI becomes central to how we interact with technology, our input elements haven’t kept up.

What if HTML had native feeling inputs for AI powered tasks?

• Converting text to audio and back
• Generating images or videos from prompts
• Customizing voices or characters with a slider
• Accepting voice input with emotion or intent detection
• Interfacing with multimodal generative models

I’m exploring a new set of AI centric HTML like input components modern primitives that extend the existing input family with powerful capabilities built for the AI age.

What Could These Look Like?

<ai-text-to-audio voice="female" lang="en-US"></ai-text-to-audio>
<ai-image-generator model="dalle-3"></ai-image-generator>
<ai-voice-input emotion="true"></ai-voice-input>

These components would act like native inputs, but under the hood they’d connect to services like OpenAI, ElevenLabs, or Stability AI. They could emit events, participate in forms, and work across frameworks.

Think of them as <input>s for the generative internet.

Built With Web Standards

The plan is to use Web Components as the foundation, making each element:

• Fully browser-native (no React/Vue dependencies required)
• Framework agnostic
• Encapsulated and styleable
• Easy to use and extend

Eventually, the goal is to build a small open source library something like @ai-inputs/core with a consistent naming/API convention and developer docs.

Bonus: These could be framework agnostic & event driven for use in modern apps.

Why This Matters

Right now, building an AI-driven UI requires gluing together APIs, managing async states, and building custom logic for each use case. What if, instead, you could just drop in:

<ai-video-generator prompt="A robot dancing in the moonlight" />

And it just worked?

We’ve seen how powerful component primitives can be. HTML needs new ones to meet where AI is going and I think as a community we can help define them.

Whats Next

I’ll be prototyping a few of these components soon and publishing a starter kit. If this idea excites you whether you’re a dev, designer, or just curious about the future of interfaces I’d love to hear your thoughts or collaborate.

Let’s build the input layer for the AI web.

AI-Centric HTML Inputs I'd Consider As A Starting Point:

<ai-text-to-audio> – Converts text input into synthesized speech.

<ai-audio-to-text> – Transcribes spoken input into text.

<ai-audio-to-text> – Transcribes spoken input into text.

<ai-voice-input> – Captures voice input with optional emotion/context detection.

<ai-voice-customizer> – Adjusts pitch, tone, speed, or persona of voice output.

<ai-image-generator> – Creates images from text prompts (e.g. DALL·E, SD).

<ai-image-editor> – Edits or inpaints images with natural language input.

<ai-video-generator> – Generates short videos from descriptive prompts.

<ai-avatar-creator> – Creates character or persona visuals from text or voice.

<ai-chat-input> – Input field designed for conversational interactions with agents.

<ai-code-generator> – Text input with contextual code generation suggestions.

<ai-document-summarizer> – Accepts large text and returns key points or TL;DRs.

<ai-emotion-detector> – Analyzes facial input or voice tone for emotion detection.

<ai-multimodal-input> – Accepts multiple input types (text, image, audio) in one UI.

<ai-translation-input> – Provides live translation for text or voice input.

<ai-character-selector> – Dropdown or visual selector for AI personas/agents.

<ai-input type="any"> – Generic wrapper for any AI-powered interaction mode.