# Pretraining

Record: term-pretraining · Type: term · Edition: 0.20.0 · Evidence cutoff: 2026-09-15

[Read in the atlas](https://theaiatlas.org/ideas/pretraining/) · [Complete evidence](https://theaiatlas.org/evidence.html#idea-pretraining) · [JSON](https://theaiatlas.org/records/term-pretraining.json) · [Pinned complete dataset](https://theaiatlas.org/editions/e74392d479c0e7da8636a7d6a0454d03510df86ffca9931eb86babd952665ca5/data.json)

Dataset pointer: `/glossary/85`. Reviewed: 2026-09-15.

> This is a curated, AI-assisted editorial atlas, not a census, affiliation classifier or independently fact-checked authority.

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## Publication dates and source age

Dated sources are over 18 months old; other dates are unknown.

Newest dated source: 2024-07-31. Assessed at this edition’s evidence cutoff: 2026-09-15. 18-month boundary: 2025-03-15.

Publication age does not establish validity or a new source-reading date. Unknown dates and month/year precision remain explicit in the JSON record.

## /summary

An initial training stage that provides a starting model for later use or adaptation.

Claim: claim-term-pretraining-1a5192ba3d7825ca26b24a72. Annotation: synthesis.

[glossary-model-pretraining](https://huggingface.co/learn/llm-course/chapter1/4)

## /definition

For a language model, this often means adjusting weights on large text collections to predict missing or next text pieces. Later training can change how the model handles specific tasks.

Claim: claim-term-pretraining-1e4c26398ee834b2e16dc7b8. Annotation: synthesis.

[glossary-model-pretraining](https://huggingface.co/learn/llm-course/chapter1/4)

## /placement

Use this distinction when a proposal refers specifically to training new base models.

Claim: claim-term-pretraining-25f52a21ad9f2e54a62ed1b2. Annotation: editorial.

[glossary-model-pretraining](https://huggingface.co/learn/llm-course/chapter1/4)

## /distinction

A pretrained language model is not automatically an instruction-following assistant. Pretraining and later adaptation serve different objectives.

Claim: claim-term-pretraining-09422ce4d5c74cb753a9bb98. Annotation: synthesis.

[glossary-model-posttraining](https://arxiv.org/html/2407.21783v2)

## Source provenance

### glossary-model-pretraining

[How do Transformers work?](https://huggingface.co/learn/llm-course/chapter1/4)

Hugging Face LLM Course · First-hand source (primary) · Published: undated · Material last read: 2026-09-15 · Verification: read

Read scope is described in the source note.

Read self-supervised language modeling and transfer learning. Used for the pretraining distinction, without adopting historical dates, performance comparisons or claims of understanding from this teaching page.

No archive check recorded.

### glossary-model-posttraining

[The Llama 3 Herd of Models](https://arxiv.org/html/2407.21783v2)

Llama Team / Meta, arXiv · First-hand source (primary) · Published: 2024-07-31 · Updated: 2024-08-15 · Material last read: 2026-09-15 · Verification: read

Read scope is described in the source note.

Read the two training stages, post-training methods and section 5.4.8 limitations in version 2. Dates follow arXiv submission history. One documented approach, not a universal training recipe.

No archive check recorded.