Why can't ChatGPT and Claude see the time?

Did you know that ChatGPT… can't tell the time ? While they can program, browse the web, analyze data, and generate images, leading large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude can't do one very basic thing : recognize real time.

When asked 'What time is it?', ChatGPT will frankly admit its limitations:

'I don't have access to the real-time clock, so I can't see the time on your device or anywhere else.'

The chatbot will then ask the user to check it themselves on their phone or computer.

AI experts say this limitation stems from the way large language models work. According to robotics expert Yervant Kulbashian, each LLM exists in a 'word and language space', processing only data that has appeared in that space. The core weakness lies in the context window – the maximum amount of information the model can hold in a conversation.

If the AI ​​were to constantly access and update the system time, that ever-changing stream of information would take up space in the context window. Kulbashian argues that updating the time every second would not only create 'noise' but could also overwhelm the model, reducing the quality of its responses.

But why can Gemini and Grok tell time?

Interestingly, this limitation doesn't apply to all AI platforms. Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, or xAI Grok can all provide real-time visualizations — because they automatically integrate search or system data mining features.

That is, the models themselves do not 'know time', but they are given access to a time data source.

Meanwhile, ChatGPT and Claude do not have a built-in 'watch time' mechanism, so when search is not enabled, they are completely blind to real-time information.

However, NLP researcher Pasquale Minervini points out that ChatGPT can absolutely tell the time , when:

1. user turns on Search mode
2. or run ChatGPT in a desktop application that can provide system time information (e.g. Atlas Browser application integrates ChatGPT)

In this case, ChatGPT simply calls the search to access the current time.

OpenAI also confirmed that the model has 'no access to internal time' and must call a search function to fetch the latest data. The company said it is looking into ways to help ChatGPT 'better recognize when to automatically call a search'.

Isabella Humphrey

Update 08 December 2025