What Are Foundation Models?
By Karthick Selvam · Published · Updated
Foundation models are large models pre-trained on broad data that can be adapted to many tasks.
Definition
The term describes models such as large language models and multimodal models trained at scale on general data, which serve as a base for many downstream applications.
Adaptation
They are adapted through prompting, retrieval, fine-tuning or by building agents and applications around them.
Open and closed models
Some are available only through a provider's API; others have openly downloadable weights that can be self-hosted, with licence terms that vary.
Enterprise considerations
Evaluate quality on your tasks, cost, latency, data residency, licensing and the provider's security practices.
Frequently asked questions
Do we need to train our own foundation model?
Almost never. Adapting an existing model is far cheaper for most organisations.
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