Inference
Level 2
The moment a trained model is actually used to produce an answer.
Term 7 of 8 in Basic AI
In plain language
Training happens once. Inference happens every single time someone asks a question. It is fast compared with training, but because it happens constantly it is usually where the ongoing cost lives.
Think of it like this
Training writes the cookbook. Inference is cooking one meal to order.
Why it matters
If an AI feature feels slow or expensive, the conversation is almost always about inference.
Next terms in Basic AI
- Artificial intelligenceSoftware that performs tasks we normally think of as requiring human judgement.
- Machine learningA way of building software that learns patterns from examples instead of being given rules.
- ModelThe trained file that holds everything an AI system learned.
- TrainingThe process of showing a model huge amounts of data so it can learn patterns.