# Inside the LLM Call: GenAI Observability with OpenTelemetry

DevFeed: [Inside the LLM Call: GenAI Observability with OpenTelemetry](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/inside-the-llm-call-genai-observability-with-opentelemetry-32572.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://opentelemetry.io/blog/2026/genai-observability/>)

Author: OpenTelemetry Authors; Docs CC BY

Published: 2026-09-14T16:56:42Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [Blog on OpenTelemetry](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/blog-on-opentelemetry.md>)

Topics: [OpenTelemetry](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/opentelemetry.md>), [agent observability](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/agent-observability.md>), [telemetry](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/telemetry.md>), [AI Agent](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ai-agent.md>), [Large Language Model](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/llm.md>)

Tags: [agent](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/agent.md>), [ai-agent](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai-agent.md>), [claude-code](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/claude-code.md>), [codex](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/codex.md>), [observability](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/observability.md>), [opentelemetry](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/opentelemetry.md>), [token](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/token.md>), [tool](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/tool.md>), [visibility](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/visibility.md>)

## AI overview

This tutorial explains how OpenTelemetry Semantic Conventions for Generative AI record LLM calls, tool invocations, token counts, and related events. It demonstrates exporting telemetry from an LLM-powered application, viewing it with Aspire Dashboard, and considering sensitive-data implications of optional content capture.

## Source excerpt

Your AI agent just took 45 seconds to answer a simple question. Was it the model? A slow tool call? A retry loop? Every time an application calls an LLM, a chain of model calls, tool invocations, and token exchanges happens behind the scenes -- and without observability, you are guessing. The OpenTelemetry Semantic Conventions for Generative AI give you that visibility. They standardize how GenAI operations are recorded -- the model being called, input and output token counts, and when opted in, the full content of prompts, completions, tool calls, and tool results.