In early 2023, waiting 2 seconds for GPT-3.5 to start responding felt miraculous. Today, GPT-5 delivers first tokens in 75 milliseconds—faster than human reaction time. This 27x speed improvement in 30 months isn’t just a technical achievement; it’s the unlock that makes AI feel truly intelligent.
Sub-100ms enables truly human-like support agents. The uncanny valley disappears when responses are instant. Customer satisfaction scores improve 34% with real-time AI.
Software Development
Live pair programming becomes reality. AI suggests fixes faster than developers can type. Productivity gains jump from 40% to 70% with real-time assistance.
Content Creation
Writers experience “flow state” with AI. No interruption between thought and enhancement. Creative output increases 3x with instant AI collaboration.
Financial Services
Algorithmic trading advantages evaporate. Everyone has sub-100ms AI. Competition shifts from speed to strategy. Market volatility decreases 20%.
The Hidden Costs of Speed
Infrastructure Requirements:
– Edge computing expansion
– 5G/6G network dependency
– Massive caching systems
– Geographic distribution
Energy Consumption:
– 3x power for 10x speed
– Cooling requirements spike
– Carbon footprint concerns
– Sustainability challenges
The race now: Who reaches single-digit milliseconds first?
Hidden Disruptions Emerging
– Latency Arbitrage: Geographic advantages in AI speed
– Speed Inequality: Fast AI for rich, slow AI for poor
– Regulation Lag: Laws written for 2-second AI, not 75ms
– Human Obsolescence: When AI thinks faster than humans universally
The Philosophical Shift
At 2000ms, AI was clearly artificial—the pause revealed the machine. At 75ms, AI responses are indistinguishable from intuition. We’ve crossed from “waiting for AI” to “keeping up with AI.”
This isn’t just about speed. It’s about the moment artificial intelligence became naturally intelligent in human perception.
The Bottom Line
The drop from 2000ms to 75ms represents more than technical progress—it’s a phase transition in human-AI interaction. Speed was the last barrier to seamless integration. With sub-100ms inference now standard, AI transforms from tool to teammate. The companies that recognize this shift will build the next generation of applications. Those that don’t will wonder why their 500ms models feel so dated.
The future isn’t about making AI smarter—it’s about making it faster. At 75ms, we’ve arrived.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
