From Static to Generated Interfaces
Small, composable UI pieces may increasingly be generated, adapted and discarded by agents as needs change.
Emlyn O'Regan
We generally treat a human interface as something designed in advance and shipped with a product. Even configurable interfaces are usually arrangements of controls the developer already anticipated.
Once software capabilities are separately accessible to agents, another possibility emerges: the human interface becomes a composition too.
Suppose someone repeatedly exports audio into three particular formats. Instead of navigating a comprehensive export dialog, they ask their agent for a tiny panel containing those three actions. The agent constructs the controls, connects them to the underlying operations and keeps the panel available. Later it can revise or discard it.
The interface is generated for a particular purpose, not permanently added to the product for everybody.
Why decomposition matters
Small interface pieces are easier to specify, generate, test, replace and discard than an entire application interface. A single control or task panel has limited state and a small behavioural contract. It can be recreated when a dependency changes.
This suggests a gradual move from static, vendor-designed screens to mixtures of stable interface foundations and dynamic, agent-generated components.
The agent might also construct a new capability behind the control, rather than only expose an existing one. That connects generated interfaces with de novo capability construction.
Fluid does not mean arbitrary
Users benefit from muscle memory, consistency and the ability to understand what software will do. Generated components therefore need constraints: accessibility, clear permissions, reliable binding to operations, safe defaults and stable behaviour where stability matters.
A useful division may be a durable visual workspace surrounded by more disposable controls for specialised tasks.
The result is not necessarily a screen that changes every time someone looks at it. It's an interface that can evolve when needs change, without waiting for a product release.
Related: The Disappearing Interface · Hybrid Human–Agent Software · The Disaggregation of Software.