An Anthropic engineer argues HTML is a better output format for AI agents than Markdown, citing information density, ease of sharing, and two-way interaction
@trq212
Related Coverage
- Using Claude Code: The Unreasonable Effectiveness of HTML. Thought-provoking piece by Thariq Shihipar … Simon Willison's Weblog · Simon Willison
- Anthropic Engineer Debates Use of Markdown vs. HTML in AI Agent Output Thurrott · Paul Thurrott
- Shihipar Is Right. Markdown Still Wins Memory. Implicator.ai · Marcus Schuler
Discussion
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@karpathy
Andrej Karpathy
on x
This works really well btw, at the end of your query ask your LLM to “structure your response as HTML”, then view the generated file in your browser. I've also had some success asking the LLM to present its output as slideshows, etc. More generally, imo audio is the
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@pmarca
Marc Andreessen
on x
Oh yeah.
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@nicbstme
Nicolas Bustamante
on x
I turned @trq212's article into an interactive HTML! I was a markdown boy but since I started working at Microsoft I'm using HTML more and more. Our engineers love to send AI-generated HTML to coordinate between SWE/PM on projects since it's easier to read than markdown. [video]
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@ryancarson
Ryan Carson
on x
Hmmmm. Might be switching out my .md for .html Makes so much sense once you think about it
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@simonw
Simon Willison
on x
Asking for HTML explanations of things is pretty neat, I tried it just now with the obfuscated Python POC for the new https://copy.fail/ Linux vulnerability: https://simonwillison.net/... [image]
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@ricmac@mastodon.social
Richard MacManus
on mastodon
Curious find of the day: the AI community on X has seemingly re-discovered the World Wide Web, in that it now favours HTML over Markdown for “agents to communicate with us”: https://x.com/... #AI #WhatGoesAroundComesAround