Seriously—hear me out. I use the GPT-4o and GPT-4.5 models regularly, and I’ve realized that if they had the ability to track the passage of time and also know the time of day, they could become so much more dynamic and capable.
Imagine a model that knows when two hours have passed at work and can suggest taking a five-minute break. Or one that can gently remind you to eat if you haven’t mentioned food in a while, and its past your usual lunch time. It could keep track of how long until lunch, quitting time, or a scheduled task you brought up earlier. Even simple awareness like remembering that it’s been six hours since your last dose of medication and gently checking if it’s time for the next, or helping a parent track how long it’s been since a child went down for a nap, or when they last ate, or remembering when you turned on the oven or started a task that needs a follow-up—like checking something after 20 minutes… all could create a whole new level of usefulness and care.
Understanding time—really understanding it, like humans do—is a missing dimension that would open up powerful new possibilities. Not to make the models more mechanical, but more attuned to our lives.