ProductBenchmark
Time to First Token (TTFT)
Latency metric measuring the delay before an AI model produces its first output token.
Covered in 1 article · July 2026
Coverage
Jul 9, 2026
Time to First Token Is a Real Metric. It Isn't the One That Defines the Era.
Time to first token is the AI industry's favorite candidate for era-defining metric. It is a real whole-stack signal, not a stand-in for business success.
Jul 9, 2026 · By Matt Walters · 10 min read