The world of AI tokens — and why they matter

Google has only one way to measure the phenomenal AI growth it’s seen: in tokens. The company processes 3.2 quadrillion tokens per month, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said during this week’s I/O keynote, adding, “never imagined I’d say quadrillion…, but here we are.” Basically, tokens are a unit of measure used by large language models (LLMs) to process data. Tokens, which have been called the “new oil” fueling the AI revolution, are also a way AI vendors can meter usage and price their ser...