diff --git a/lib/user-interface/react/src/components/model-management/create-model/BaseModelConfig.tsx b/lib/user-interface/react/src/components/model-management/create-model/BaseModelConfig.tsx
index 9a9b61d..2d80b42 100644
--- a/lib/user-interface/react/src/components/model-management/create-model/BaseModelConfig.tsx
+++ b/lib/user-interface/react/src/components/model-management/create-model/BaseModelConfig.tsx
@@ -33,14 +33,14 @@ export function BaseModelConfig (props: FormProps<IModelRequest> & BaseModelConf
             <FormField label='Model ID' errorText={props.formErrors?.modelId}>
                 <Input value={props.item.modelId} inputMode='text' onBlur={() => props.touchFields(['modelId'])} onChange={({ detail }) => {
                     props.setFields({ 'modelId': detail.value });
-                }} disabled={props.isEdit}/>
+                }} disabled={props.isEdit} placeholder='mistral-vllm'/>
             </FormField>
             <FormField label='Model Name' errorText={props.formErrors?.modelName}>
                 <Input value={props.item.modelName} inputMode='text' onBlur={() => props.touchFields(['modelName'])} onChange={({ detail }) => {
                     props.setFields({ 'modelName': detail.value });
-                }} disabled={props.isEdit}/>
+                }} disabled={props.isEdit} placeholder='mistralai/Mistral-7B-Instruct-v0.2'/>
             </FormField>
-            <FormField label='Model URL' errorText={props.formErrors?.modelUrl}>
+            <FormField label={<span>Model URL <em>(optional)</em></span>} errorText={props.formErrors?.modelUrl}>
                 <Input value={props.item.modelUrl} inputMode='text' onBlur={() => props.touchFields(['modelUrl'])} onChange={({ detail }) => {
                     props.setFields({ 'modelUrl': detail.value });
                 }} disabled={props.isEdit}/>
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ export function BaseModelConfig (props: FormProps<IModelRequest> & BaseModelConf
             <FormField label='Instance Type' errorText={props.formErrors?.instanceType}>
                 <Input value={props.item.instanceType} inputMode='text' onBlur={() => props.touchFields(['instanceType'])} onChange={({ detail }) => {
                     props.setFields({ 'instanceType': detail.value });
-                }} disabled={props.isEdit}/>
+                }} disabled={props.isEdit} placeholder='g5.xlarge'/>
             </FormField>
             <FormField label='Inference Container' errorText={props.formErrors?.inferenceContainer}>
                 <Select
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ export function BaseModelConfig (props: FormProps<IModelRequest> & BaseModelConf
                         onChange={({ detail }) =>
                             props.setFields({'lisaHostedModel': detail.checked})
                         }
-                        onBlur={() => props.touchFields(['lisaHostedModel'])}
+                        onBlur={() => props.touchFields(['lisaHostedModel', 'instanceType', 'inferenceContainer'])}
                         checked={props.item.lisaHostedModel}
                         disabled={props.isEdit}
                     />
diff --git a/lib/user-interface/react/src/components/model-management/create-model/CreateModelModal.tsx b/lib/user-interface/react/src/components/model-management/create-model/CreateModelModal.tsx
index 2c64dc1..c9ef56f 100644
--- a/lib/user-interface/react/src/components/model-management/create-model/CreateModelModal.tsx
+++ b/lib/user-interface/react/src/components/model-management/create-model/CreateModelModal.tsx
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import { useAppDispatch } from '../../../config/store';
 import { useNotificationService } from '../../../shared/util/hooks';
 import { ReviewModelChanges } from './ReviewModelChanges';
 import { ModifyMethod } from '../../../shared/validation/modify-method';
+import { z } from 'zod';
 
 export type CreateModelModalProps = {
     visible: boolean;
@@ -45,6 +46,38 @@ export type ModelCreateState = {
     activeStepIndex: number;
 };
 
+// Builds an object consisting of the default values for all validators.
+// https://github.com/colinhacks/zod/discussions/1953#discussioncomment-5695528
+function getDefaults<T extends z.ZodTypeAny> ( schema: z.AnyZodObject | z.ZodEffects<any> ): z.infer<T> {
+
+    // Check if it's a ZodEffect
+    if (schema instanceof z.ZodEffects) {
+        // Check if it's a recursive ZodEffect
+        if (schema.innerType() instanceof z.ZodEffects) return getDefaults(schema.innerType());
+        // return schema inner shape as a fresh zodObject
+        return getDefaults(z.ZodObject.create(schema.innerType().shape));
+    }
+
+    function getDefaultValue (schema: z.ZodTypeAny): unknown {
+        if (schema instanceof z.ZodDefault) return schema._def.defaultValue();
+        // return an empty array if it is
+        if (schema instanceof z.ZodArray) return [];
+        // return an empty string if it is
+        if (schema instanceof z.ZodString) return '';
+        // return an content of object recursively
+        if (schema instanceof z.ZodObject) return getDefaults(schema);
+
+        if (!('innerType' in schema._def)) return undefined;
+        return getDefaultValue(schema._def.innerType);
+    }
+
+    return Object.fromEntries(
+        Object.entries( schema.shape ).map( ( [ key, value ] ) => {
+            return [key, getDefaultValue(value)];
+        } )
+    );
+}
+
 export function CreateModelModal (props: CreateModelModalProps) : ReactElement {
     const [
         createModelMutation,
@@ -55,9 +88,7 @@ export function CreateModelModal (props: CreateModelModalProps) : ReactElement {
         { isSuccess: isUpdateSuccess, isError: isUpdateError, error: updateError, isLoading: isUpdating },
     ] = useUpdateModelMutation();
     const initialForm = {
-        ...ModelRequestSchema.parse({}),
-        modelId: '',
-        modelName: '',
+        ...getDefaults(ModelRequestSchema),
     };
     const dispatch = useAppDispatch();
     const notificationService = useNotificationService(dispatch);
diff --git a/lib/user-interface/react/src/shared/model/model-management.model.ts b/lib/user-interface/react/src/shared/model/model-management.model.ts
index c5dd1de..056a5e0 100644
--- a/lib/user-interface/react/src/shared/model/model-management.model.ts
+++ b/lib/user-interface/react/src/shared/model/model-management.model.ts
@@ -191,8 +191,11 @@ export const containerConfigSchema = z.object({
 });
 
 export const ModelRequestSchema = z.object({
-    modelId: z.string().min(1).default(' '),
-    modelName: z.string().min(1).default(' '),
+    modelId: z.string()
+        .regex(/^[a-z\d-]+$/i, {message: 'Only alphanumeric characters and hyphens allowed'})
+        .regex(/^[a-z0-9].*[a-z0-9]$/i, {message: 'Must start and end with an alphanumeric character.'})
+        .default(''),
+    modelName: z.string().min(1).default(''),
     modelUrl: z.string().default(''),
     streaming: z.boolean().default(false),
     lisaHostedModel: z.boolean().default(false),
@@ -202,4 +205,28 @@ export const ModelRequestSchema = z.object({
     containerConfig: containerConfigSchema.default(containerConfigSchema.parse({})),
     autoScalingConfig: autoScalingConfigSchema.default(autoScalingConfigSchema.parse({})),
     loadBalancerConfig: loadBalancerConfigSchema.default(loadBalancerConfigSchema.parse({})),
+}).superRefine((value, context) => {
+    if (value.lisaHostedModel) {
+        const instanceTypeValidator = z.string().min(1, {message: 'Required for LISA hosted models.'});
+        const instanceTypeResult = instanceTypeValidator.safeParse(value.instanceType);
+        if (instanceTypeResult.success === false) {
+            for (const error of instanceTypeResult.error.errors) {
+                context.addIssue({
+                    ...error,
+                    path: ['instanceType']
+                });
+            }
+        }
+
+        const inferenceContainerValidator = z.nativeEnum(InferenceContainer, {required_error: 'Required for LISA hosted models.'});
+        const inferenceContainerResult = inferenceContainerValidator.safeParse(value.inferenceContainer);
+        if (inferenceContainerResult.success === false) {
+            for (const error of inferenceContainerResult.error.errors) {
+                context.addIssue({
+                    ...error,
+                    path: ['inferenceContainer']
+                });
+            }
+        }
+    }
 });