Inference: the request a retirement stops
Inference is running a model to produce output. It is the unit a retirement applies to: one platform here states that after a date all inference requests return a specific error. It is also the unit most pricing in this register is measured in, per second or per finished clip. As of 2026-09-22.
| Part of a request | What a retirement does to it |
|---|---|
| The weights that answer | Unreachable, unless you hold a copy |
| The output already returned | Nothing; it is wherever you put it |
| The prompt and settings | Kept, and no longer reproducible |
| The bill | Stops, which is the smallest consequence |
Inclusion rule. Distinctions drawn from the lifecycle pages and priced pages used as sources in this register. Order. From what is lost to what is not.
1A prompt without its model reproduces nothing
Teams instinctively archive prompts and settings so anything can be remade. In this field the thing that will not exist later is the model, so the archive preserves the instructions for a machine that has gone.
Which inverts the usual advice: keep the delivered files at the quality delivered, and treat the prompt as a note rather than as a backup.
2The billing unit and the lifecycle unit are the same thing
Because pricing is per second or per clip, a model leaving a price list removes a purchasable unit rather than a plan. On one entry here the invoice therefore records which engine produced what, as a side effect.
Where models are bundled into a subscription, the same connection is impossible to reconstruct. That difference decides whether a production can answer the only question a retirement raises.
3A named failure is better than an unexplained one
One platform states the exact response after its date, so a caller can branch on it and alert on it. Everywhere else the request simply fails and the cause has to be investigated.
That is the difference between a retirement that software handles and one a person discovers. The status term covers what that response means.
A definition rather than a dated entry: no line above is a vendor statement. Where this word turns up in a real notice, the wording and the date are on the reproducibility term. Nearby terms: 410 Gone, Region availability, Inactivity clause.