Query

A query is a single question or request you send to a system. The words you type into a search box, a request sent to a database, a prompt fed into an AI — all of these are queries in the broad sense.

It started out as a database term, but AI has widened its use. When an article says "search query," it means what the user typed into search. "Input query" means what went into the AI. "Cost per query" means how much it costs to process one request. In most cases you can just read it as "one question or request" and it will make sense.

The relationship to "prompt" is simple too — you can think of the prompt as the actual content inside the query sent to an AI.

"The cost per query for AI search is 10 times that of regular search" — this refers to the cost of processing a single request, a common line in articles about the profitability of AI search.