Learn AI · Level 1 · Foundations · step 7 of 17 · word 1 of 2
What is a knowledge cutoff?
A knowledge cutoff is the date a model's training data ends. Anything that happened after it is unknown to the model unless it can search the web.
In plain English
A model learns from a huge snapshot of text collected up to a certain date. That date is its knowledge cutoff. The model knows nothing after it, a bit like someone back from a long trip with no news.
Models are often released months after their cutoff, so even a brand-new chatbot can be behind on recent news.
An example
You ask a chatbot who won last week’s match. Without web search it may say it doesn’t know, or worse, confidently name the winner of an older match.
Watch out
Many chatbots now search the web, which fills the gap, but not every answer uses search. For anything recent, such as prices, laws or news, check that the answer gives a dated source. If it doesn’t, assume it may be out of date.