Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago

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Day 8/42: Base Model vs Instruct Model

Yesterday, we covered pre-training.

That gives us a powerful model… that’s still awkward to use.

A base model just continues text.

It doesn’t try to help you.

An instruct model is trained to follow instructions, answer clearly, and behave like an assistant.

Same knowledge.

Different behavior.

This is why ChatGPT feels useful while raw models feel strange.

Missed Day 7? Highly recommended.

Tomorrow, we break down how this behavior shift happens: fine-tuning.

I’m Louis-François, PhD dropout, now CTO & co-founder at Towards AI. Follow me for tomorrow’s no-BS AI roundup 🚀

#InstructModels #LLM #AIExplained #short