The Case Against Fine-Tuning in 2025

By C.W. Jameson · Published 10 April 2026 · Last reviewed 5 May 2026

Fine-tuning felt necessary in 2022. By 2025, the base models moved faster than the fine-tunes could keep up.

Why most teams should avoid fine-tuning and use prompting and RAG instead: costs, maintenance, and the moving frontier.