Managing a token budget? Think efficiency, not intelligence
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Terms in this piece · Glossary
open weights — A model whose trained parameters are published for anyone to download and run — unlike API-only models you can access but never possess.
token — The chunk of text a model reads and writes in — roughly three-quarters of a word — and the unit AI usage is billed in.
Why it matters
Price per tokenThe chunk of text a model reads and writes in — roughly three-quarters of a word — and the unit AI usage is billed in.Full definition → is not price per task. A cheaper model that retries and flails can outspend an expensive one, so route on measured cost per completed task rather than the sticker rate.
