Understand the limitations of AI memory and why ChatGPT sometimes forgets earlier parts of conversations
Part of Understanding ChatGPT & Modern AI
Educational content slides
ChatGPT has a memory window like a computer's RAM, not a hard drive. It can only "remember" a limited amount of recent conversation.
The context window is measured in tokens (roughly 3/4 of a word). GPT-4 has a ~128,000 token context window—about 96,000 words or a short novel.
Once you exceed this limit, AI forgets the earliest parts of your conversation.
Test your understanding with this quiz.
You're having a long conversation with ChatGPT about a complex project. Suddenly it forgets details you mentioned at the start. What happened?
Complete this exercise and get AI-powered feedback.
Reflect on how understanding context limits changes how you'd use AI tools.
Key insight: AI doesn't have unlimited memory—it has a moving window that forgets the past as new content arrives.