An AI token is a unit of measurement used in natural language processing models to represent segments of text, such as words or parts of words. AI tokens are crucial for determining the computational resources required to process or generate text using AI services. The number of tokens in a request often affects the speed, cost, and output limits of AI models. Service providers typically charge users based on the number of tokens processed, making tokenization an important factor in budgeting and optimizing AI-driven applications. Understanding how text is tokenized helps users manage usage and control expenses.