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Fine-tuning

The process of further training a pre-trained model on a specialized dataset to improve its performance in a specific domain.

What Is Fine-tuning

Fine-tuning is additional training of a base model (GPT, Llama) on your dataset. After fine-tuning, the model better understands your domain, style, and tasks.

When to Use It

  • You need a specific response style
  • Working with specialized terminology
  • Classification in a narrow domain
  • RAG doesn’t provide sufficient quality

When NOT to Use It

  • You need current data (use RAG instead)
  • Limited budget (fine-tuning is more expensive)
  • The task can be solved with prompt engineering
  • Not enough training data (< 100 examples)

Cost

Fine-tuning requires GPU resources and time. For most business tasks, a combination of RAG + good prompts delivers results faster and cheaper.

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