Customizing large language models for domain-specific applications
LLM fine-tuning adapts pre-trained language models to specific domains, tasks, or styles. Techniques range from full fine-tuning to parameter-efficient methods (LoRA, QLoRA) that require minimal compute. Fine-tuning enables creating specialized models that outperform general-purpose LLMs for specific use cases. Understanding when to fine-tune vs use prompt engineering or RAG, and how to prepare training data, is a critical skill for AI engineers building production AI applications.