The Hidden Cost of 'Relational Buffering' in AI Interactions
mb3rtheflame · reddit · 2026-08-29
While AI researchers focus on reducing inference costs and token usage, "relational buffering"—the extra machinery from preambles, repeated framing, and clarification loops caused by missed intentions—is often overlooked.
The author proposes a new metric: tokens per resolved intention. A longer, immediate answer may cost less than a short one that triggers multiple repair turns. This is a live experiment to see if reducing unnecessary buffering can lower total conversational computation while preserving fidelity.
Related event: New Metric Measures Tokens Cost per Parsed Intent in AI Chats(2 posts)→
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