decode

v. to translate a secret message or difficult code into plain language you can understand. You can also use it when you finally understand a complicated idea.

v. to convert a coded or encoded message back into its original, intelligible form. Often describes the process of interpreting complex signals or extracting meaning from a specific symbolic system.

“The computer needs a password to decode the hidden files.”

“While the software can quickly decode the encrypted data, the human analyst must still interpret the underlying intent of the communication.”

v. to write an answer one token at a time, with each new token depending on the ones before it. This is the step of AI inference that comes after the prompt is read.

v. In LLM inference, to generate output tokens one per step, each conditioned on the prompt and the tokens already produced. This phase is limited by memory speed rather than arithmetic, so it is sensitive to latency.

“The model will decode one token at a time until the answer is complete.”

“After the prompt has been read, the model must decode each new token in sequence, which is why long answers take longer to appear than short ones.”

Technical