If you've used ChatGPT or Claude lately, you might have noticed something different: they remember more. Not just the last few messages, but entire conversations stretching back thousands of words. This isn't magic—it's the result of context windows getting dramatically larger, and it's changing how we interact with AI in ways that aren't immediately obvious.
Think of a context window like a desk. A few years ago, AI assistants had tiny desks—they could only see the last few pages of your conversation before earlier stuff fell off the edge. Ask a question on page one, reference it on page ten, and the AI would have no idea what you were talking about.
Now? These desks are more like warehouse floors. Modern models can hold entire codebases, lengthy documents, or hours of conversation in active memory. Claude's latest models can process over 200,000 tokens—roughly 150,000 words, or about two full novels.