An AI does not read text the way we do. Before it can do anything with your words, it cuts the text into small pieces. Those pieces are called tokens, and the process is called tokenisation. It sounds technical, but it explains a few practical things about how best to write for AI.
What is tokenisation?
Tokenisation is dividing text into small units called tokens. A token can be a whole word, part of a word, or a punctuation mark. An AI processes these tokens one by one. Everything an AI reads or writes is, at its core, about processing sequences of tokens.
Why is this relevant for content?
AI systems have a limit on the number of tokens they can process at once. Moreover, they work more efficiently with clear, concise text. Long, convoluted or messy content takes more tokens and is harder to summarise correctly. Concise, structured content is easier to process and cite.
An example
A page full of vague, long-winded sentences costs an AI many tokens to wade through, with a greater chance of an incomplete interpretation. A page with clear headings and concise answers is more informative per token and is understood correctly more quickly.
What does this mean for you?
You do not have to master the technology yourself, but the insight helps: write clearly, in a structured way and to the point. That is not only pleasant for your readers, it also makes your content more efficient for AI to process. Good communication and good AI findability go hand in hand here.
