Knowledge Cutoff
Level 1Short Description
The date after which a model's training data ends, beyond which it has no built-in knowledge of world events.
Friendly Description: A knowledge cutoff is the date beyond which an AI hasn't seen any new information. Imagine a friend who went on a long trip with no phone or news for a year. They're still smart and helpful, but they won't know about anything that happened while they were away. AI models work the same way: anything that happened after their training was finished is news to them, unless they can search the web.
Example: If a model's knowledge cutoff is January 2025 and you ask about a movie released in March 2026, the model won't know about it from training alone. To answer correctly, it would need to use a tool like web search to look up the latest information.