Frozen in time

The weights are fixed after training ends. The model doesn't learn from conversations. It doesn't update when you correct it. Every interaction starts from exactly the same weights.

This means the model's knowledge has a cutoff date — the point at which training data stopped being collected. Events after that date don't exist to the model. Current stock prices, recent elections, new research, yesterday's news — none of it is in the weights.

Some models are augmented with tools that can search the web or retrieve current documents. This helps, but it's a workaround, not a solution. The model itself remains frozen; the tools extend its reach.

This also means the model can be wrong about things that were true when it was trained but have since changed. Scientific consensus shifts. Laws change. Companies merge. What the model "knows" reflects the world at a particular moment, not the world as it is now.

Knowing the training cutoff date for any model you use is basic hygiene.