RS Glossary
Latency
Latency is the elapsed time between starting a request or event and receiving the relevant response or result.
- Review state
- Reviewed in POC
- Freshness
- Current
- Version
- 2
- Latency
- Response Latency
Remember it this wayLatency is how long the system makes the work wait.
In plain language
In an AI system, latency may include network travel, retrieval, model inference, tool calls, safety checks, and application processing. The total delay is what the user and workflow experience.
Why it matters
A technically capable system can still fail in practice if responses arrive too slowly for the task, interrupt conversation flow, or create queues elsewhere in the process.
Example
A call-center assistant takes twelve seconds to suggest an answer, causing agents to stop waiting and return to manual search.
Common misconception
Latency is not only the model's generation speed. Every handoff in the complete system can contribute to the delay.
Related terms
Sources
- NIST Computer Security Resource Center, Glossary: LatencyNIST-sourced definition of latency as a processing time delay.
- Google, *Site Reliability Engineering: Service Level Objectives*operational treatment of latency as a user-facing service indicator measured across request distributions.
Learn more
- Map delay through [[workflow|Workflow]] and distinguish it from a persistent [[bottleneck|Bottleneck]].
Public history
45 recorded events · 45 public summaries
A potential shared concept was discussed and selected for initial glossary drafting.
The captured candidate received a complete initial draft and entered section-level human review.
Radar reviewed the initial definition draft for human consideration.
Radar reviewed the initial plain-language-explanation draft for human consideration.
Radar reviewed the initial why-it-matters draft for human consideration.
Radar reviewed the initial example draft for human consideration.
Radar reviewed the initial common-misconception draft for human consideration.
Radar reviewed the initial remember-it-this-way draft for human consideration.
Radar reviewed the initial related-terms draft for human consideration.
Radar reviewed the initial sources draft for human consideration.
Radar reviewed the initial learn-more draft for human consideration.
A proposal was opened for section-level human review while preserving the current version.
A human reviewer opened a proposed revision while preserving the current approved or captured version.
plain-language-explanation approved by a human reviewer.
why-it-matters approved by a human reviewer.
example approved by a human reviewer.
common-misconception approved by a human reviewer.
remember-it-this-way approved by a human reviewer.
related-terms approved by a human reviewer.
sources returned for revision.
learn-more approved by a human reviewer.
Requested wording was prepared without changing approved or existing sections.
Radar reviewed the pending sources section for human consideration.
Radar must rereview the complete latency term after an accepted text change.
Radar must rereview the complete latency term after an accepted text change.
Radar must rereview the complete latency term after an accepted text change.
Radar must rereview the complete latency term after an accepted text change.
Radar must rereview the complete latency term after an accepted text change.
Radar must rereview the complete latency term after an accepted text change.
Radar must rereview the complete latency term after an accepted text change.
Radar must rereview the complete latency term after an accepted text change.
Radar must rereview the complete latency term after an accepted text change.
definition approved by a human reviewer.
sources approved by a human reviewer.
sources approved wording became the current section text.
All section gates are approved; content version 2 is now a fully approved term.
Radar rereviewed the human-approved definition wording for this exact version.
Radar rereviewed the human-approved plain-language-explanation wording for this exact version.
Radar rereviewed the human-approved why-it-matters wording for this exact version.
Radar rereviewed the human-approved example wording for this exact version.
Radar rereviewed the human-approved common-misconception wording for this exact version.
Radar rereviewed the human-approved remember-it-this-way wording for this exact version.
Radar rereviewed the human-approved related-terms wording for this exact version.
Radar rereviewed the human-approved sources wording for this exact version.
Radar rereviewed the human-approved learn-more wording for this exact version.
Source: vault/Glossary/terms/latency/term.md · sha256:62bf5d20f8c3da74209378ae193890f762368556b9bb8ea22c7c5f0b7d80def5 · Release: rs-glossary-glossary-team-poc-0.5.5-2026-09-02