AI & the web
Latency
The delay between starting an action or request and receiving a response.
In everyday use
A button takes a moment to respond even though the downloaded file is small.
What to keep in mind
Latency measures delay, not the total amount of data a connection can carry.
Also searched as: Network latency
Further reading
Original explanation and example by Perspectism. Further reading may cover the wider subject, rather than this exact wording. Edition updated 7 October 2026.
More in ai & the web
Page updated .