Def&OffSec

LLMs: Pre-training vs Post-training

Pre-training is the stage where a model learns language, patterns, and general knowledge from large datasets. It builds the foundation of understanding.

Post-training is the refinement stage where the model is tuned to follow instructions better, improve accuracy, and align with human feedback and safety rules.

In simple terms:
Pre-training = foundation learning
Post-training = alignment & specialization