AWT
AI Waiting Tax
The hidden psychological and cognitive cost of waiting for AI responses — idle time as suspended attention, not free time.
The AI Waiting Tax (AWT) names the burden of waiting for AI systems to respond. It is not merely annoyance at slow servers. It is the cost of suspended attention — time in which the user cannot fully proceed, disengage, or use the interval productively without fragmentation.
AWT is the experiential foundation for the structural AI Latency Tax (ALT).
Source AI Waiting Taxes: The Hidden Cost of Idle Time in the Age of Artificial Intelligence