Last Mile (artificial intelligence)

The last mile in the context of artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLM) is a metaphor drawing on last mile (telecommunications) to refers to the limit or "gap" of what an AI model "knows" and human knowledge. Attending to the last mile gap is a strategy also to address algorithmic bias.

The last mile concept was used prior to the public rollout of ChatGPT in 2022^[1][2] and gained traction in 2024 from multiple sources simultaneously.^[3][4] and amplified by Forbes Magazine.^[5] The "last mile" concept in AI entered common use in 2025 to refer to algorithm gaps ^[6] AI design gaps ^[7] and other gaps.^[8]