DadgogoAI Dictionary

Dictionary entry

sampling

noun \ˈsam-pliŋ\
TopicModels & Behavior Senses1
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Definition of sampling

  1. : the way a model picks each next token from its list of possible choices, which decides how predictable or varied the text is

    • Greedy sampling always takes the single most likely token.
    • Change the sampling settings and the same prompt gives different stories.

Two meanings, one word

In everyday English

Choosing a small part of something to test or represent the whole; in music, reusing part of a recording.

In AI

The way a model picks each next token from its list of possible choices, which decides how predictable or varied the text is.

Test yourself

Which of these is the meaning of sampling?

Related terms

temperature a setting that controls how random a model's output is: low temperature gives safer, more… top-p a sampling setting that lets a model choose only from the most likely next tokens whose… token the basic unit of text a language model reads and writes: a whole word, part of a word, a…

Cite this entry

"Sampling." AI Dictionary, Dadgogo, https://dadgogo.com/dictionary/sampling/. Accessed 4 Oct. 2026.

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