PromptSharp › Glossary › Temperature (LLM)
What is Temperature (LLM)?
Temperature is a setting that controls randomness in AI output: low is focused and consistent, high is varied and creative.
Temperature is a number (commonly 0 to 1, sometimes up to 2) that controls how much randomness the model uses when choosing each next word. Near 0, it picks the most likely words — deterministic, repeatable, good for extraction, code, and factual tasks. Higher values let it sample less-likely words — more varied and creative, better for brainstorming and copy.
It is a generation setting, not a prompt technique, and is usually exposed only through APIs or developer tools rather than consumer chat apps. If you need the same answer every time, set it low; if outputs feel repetitive, raise it.
Frequently asked
What temperature should I use?
Use low (0-0.3) for factual, extraction, coding, and classification tasks where you want consistency. Use higher (0.7-1.0) for brainstorming, creative writing, and idea generation. Most defaults sit around 0.7-1.0.
What is the difference between temperature and top-p?
Both control randomness. Temperature reshapes the whole probability distribution; top-p (nucleus sampling) limits the pool of candidate words to the top slice. Tuning one at a time is the usual advice.
Related terms
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