A waiting problem occurs when AI responses take longer than a known human-computer response-time threshold. A user enters a question, sees a loading spinner, switches tabs, and later repeats the same question because the first answer finished while attention was elsewhere. The Doherty Threshold, established in HCI since 1982, is about 400 milliseconds; below it users remain in a productive loop and start thinking with the system. Above the threshold, attention leaks, and above ten seconds attention typically leaves the screen entirely. Major AI products launched in 2023 and 2024 missed this threshold, and later agent generations missed it by minutes.
"She typed a question into an AI chat, hit enter, and the spinner appeared. She switched tabs. Forty-three seconds later she came back, scrolled up, scrolled down, and typed the same question again. She had no idea the first answer had already finished. This is the waiting problem."
"We have known the productive number for human-computer response time since 1982. Walter J. Doherty's IBM Systems Journal paper, summarized in Laws of UX as the Doherty Threshold, put it at roughly 400 milliseconds. Below the threshold, users stay in a productive loop with the system. Above it, attention leaks. Above ten seconds, attention typically leaves the screen entirely."
"Every major AI product launched in 2023 and 2024 missed that threshold. The agent generation that shipped in 2025 and 2026 missed it by minutes."
"The Doherty Threshold has been a published, citable, named number in HCI for over forty years. The original IBM paper measured user productivity at terminals and found that response times under approximately 400 milliseconds produced not an incremental gain but a different mode of work. Users stopped waiting for the machine and started thinking with it."
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