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reasoning effort
also reasoning_effort or thinking effort
Definition of reasoning effort
-
: a model or API setting that influences how much internal reasoning or test-time computation an AI system is encouraged to use before producing its answer
- The developer selected high reasoning effort for the difficult proof and low effort for routine classification.
- Reducing the reasoning-effort setting lowered latency but also hurt accuracy on the hardest benchmark questions.
Two meanings, one word
In everyday English
The amount of mental or physical work applied to a task.
In AI
A model or API setting that influences how much internal reasoning or test-time computation an AI system is encouraged to use before producing its answer.
Origin & history
Reasoning effort became a common product and API term in the mid-2020s as AI providers exposed controls such as low, medium, and high for reasoning models and extended-thinking systems.
Test yourself
Which of these is the meaning of reasoning effort?
Cite this entry
"Reasoning effort." AI Dictionary, Dadgogo, https://dadgogo.com/dictionary/reasoning-effort/. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.