Do you know that ChatGPT cannot tell time? Despite their capacity for complex tasks like coding, web browsing, analysing, and generating images, leading large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude remain unable to perform a fundamental function – telling the current real-time.
When asked for the exact time, ChatGPT responds by acknowledging its limitation. “I don’t have access to a real-time clock, so I can’t see the current time on your device or anywhere else.” It then directs users to check their own devices for accurate, instant timekeeping.
The context window problem with AI chatbots
AI experts explain that this blind spot is rooted in how these massive language models operate. As AI robotics expert Yervant Kulbashian noted, an LLM functions in its own “space of language and words,” only referencing data that has already entered that space.
The core issue lies in the AI’s context window – the limited amount of information the model can hold and process in a single conversation. If a model were to constantly access and update a system clock, that constant stream of time information would consume valuable space in the context window. Kulbashian suggests that too frequent time updates would become confusing noise, potentially overwhelming the AI and degrading the quality of the primary conversational task.
But why do Gemini and Grok tell time?
The limitation is not universal across all AI platforms. Competitors like Google’s Gemini, Microsoft’s Copilot, and xAI’s Grok successfully display real-time information by automatically integrating search functions or leveraging system data.
While ChatGPT and Claude struggle with inherent time awareness, a workaround exists. Pasquale Minervini, a natural language processing researcher, demonstrated that by enabling the “Search” function, or by operating within a desktop app that has access to the user’s built-in time tools, ChatGPT can be prompted to find the current time. Hence, if you are using ChatGPT within the Atlas browser, the AI chatbot will be able to tell the time.
OpenAI acknowledges the issue, stating that the models “don’t have built-in access to the current time” and must call search functions to pull up-to-date facts. The company confirmed it is working to “improve how consistently it knows when to do so.”
