STOP BLAMING THE MODEL FOR SLOW AI. USE DOHERTY'S THRESHOLD AS A GUIDELINE.

Summary from the TLDR Design newsletter

Generative AI changes how Doherty's 400-millisecond response threshold should be applied because a request now consists of two separate moments: acknowledging the user and producing the answer. Models may need several seconds to complete their work, but interfaces can immediately acknowledge input, show meaningful progress, and preserve the user's attention while generation continues. Designing this initial response as a strict performance requirement can make slow AI feel substantially faster without changing the model or inference speed.