Okuzeka
Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning vocabulary · Large Language Models

Context window

Meaning in artificial intelligence & machine learning, with examples

nounCore term

In artificial intelligence & machine learning, context window means: The maximum amount of text, measured in tokens, that a language model can take into account at once, including the prompt, any documents and its own answer.

In Turkish: bağlam penceresi

How it is used

Described by its size: a 128k context window, a long context window. When a conversation grows longer than the window, the oldest parts must be cut or summarized. Also called context length.

Example sentences

  1. The whole contract fits in the context window, so we don't need to split it.

  2. Answer quality drops when we fill the last part of the context window.

Common collocations

  • context window size
  • long context window
  • fit in the context window
  • 128k context window
  • tokenA small unit of text that a language model reads and writes, often a whole word, part of a word or a punctuation mark. Model limits and prices are counted in tokens.
  • LLMShort for large language model: a very large neural network trained on huge amounts of text to predict the next token, which lets it answer questions, write, summarize and code.
  • promptThe text or other input given to a generative model to tell it what to do, such as a question, an instruction or a few examples followed by a task.
  • RAGShort for retrieval-augmented generation: a method in which a system first searches a document collection for relevant passages and then gives them to an LLM to write the answer.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Large Language Models

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: