To be honest, you don't need to understand AI tokens to use RecipeBranch. Just start with the free plan. If you reach the free monthly quota, visit the Usage page to see a breakdown of how many tokens each feature uses. If you decide you want unlimited access to those features, upgrade to Pro.
What are AI Tokens?
In short, tokens are the unit of measurement for everything going in and out of Large Language Models (LLMs, which are a type of AI). The pricing model for nearly all LLMs is based on the number of tokens processed.
To understand this better, think of tokens as syllables but slightly different. For example "tomorrow" might be 3 syllables but 2 tokens. LLMs work by breaking text into these tokens and using them to understand context and generate responses.
Which Features Use AI Tokens?
- AI Assistant: This is the most obvious use for AI tokens. Note the longer your conversations get, the more tokens each message uses. You'll save tokens by starting a new conversation thread whenever you use the assistant.
- Recipe Imports: When you import a recipe, most information is easy for us to extract. But when it's not clear, we use LLMs to analyze the content and make educated guesses on important fields. For example, the number of servings is something we must have for our best features to work.
- Servings & Units: We use AI for scaling servings and converting between different units of measurement.