Skip to content
Market Tracked raises in 2026$3.41B+$183M this week Rounds77 LatestBlue J$176M Series E Wednesday, November 11
Legal Tech Circle
Funding TrackerTracker / Join the Circle
Funding Tracker$3.41B in 2026 Join the Circle
AI and Data

What Are Tokens in AI?

The small chunks of text, roughly three quarters of a word on average, that AI models read and write. Usage and limits are measured in tokens.

Legal Tech GlossaryBy The Circle Desk

Why It Matters

Some legal AI tools price by usage, which is ultimately driven by tokens processed. Long documents and large reviews consume more, so usage-based pricing deserves a test run on realistic volumes before you sign.

Related Terms

Context window
The amount of text an AI model can consider at once, measured in tokens. Larger windows let a model read longer documents in one pass.
LLM (large language model)
The type of AI model behind ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and most legal AI assistants, trained on very large amounts of text to predict and generate language.

General information, not legal advice. Part of the Legal Tech Glossary, 173 terms in plain English.