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What exactly is a "token"? An AI beginner's plain-English guide

This story is from 2026-10-06. It is preserved in the archive; the latest stories are on the live feed.

When I first started using AI assistants, the word that confused me most was "token." Simply put, a token is the smallest unit an AI reads and writes — roughly one English word counts as a bit more than one token, and one Chinese character is about one token. Every question you ask and every answer…

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  1. 2026-10-06 09:41 · DEV Community — AI
    What exactly is a "token"? An AI beginner's plain-English guide

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