TechnicalAI glossary
Context window
The amount of text a model can "keep in mind" at once (measured in tokens). Beyond that, it forgets the beginning of the conversation.
In other words
The size of its desktop: you can only spread out a certain number of folders at a time.
Alyriaz articles that mention it
- A single model for text, image, sound and video
Alibaba has released Qwen3.8-Omni-Flash, a model that natively handles multiple modalities with a one-million-token context window. We explain what omnimodality actually changes.
- Six hundred billion parameters at a dollar per million tokens
StepFun has launched Step 5 Preview, a 600-billion-parameter model with a one-million-token context window, priced at 1 dollar for input. We put that rate into context within the current landscape.
- Why doesn't the same AI respond differently depending on the app?
The same model produces very different responses depending on the application using it. We explain the five factors behind this gap, and why it's useful to know.
- Ox Alpha revealed: it was GLM-5.3-Flash, and it runs entirely on Chinese chips
Z.ai confirmed on 26 August that the anonymous model Ox Alpha was GLM-5.3-Flash, released under the MIT licence with a one-million-token context. We analyse the reveal, the specs, and the point that goes far beyond the technical.
- Grok 4.6 matches OpenAI's best model, with a pricing catch in the long context.
xAI has launched Grok 4.6, which matches GPT-5.6 Sol Max on the Artificial Analysis index at the same price as the previous version. We explain the tiered context pricing mechanism, which catches many users out.
- Why an AI doesn't really understand humour
AI models can produce decent jokes but often miss the second layer of meaning. We explain why humour is a particularly revealing edge case for how these systems work.