DadgogoAI Dictionary

Dictionary entry

foundation model

noun \fau̇n-ˈdā-shən ˈmä-dᵊl\
TopicModels & Behavior First known use2021 Senses1
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Definition of foundation model

  1. : a large model trained on broad data that can be adapted to many different tasks, serving as the base on which many products are built

    • Hundreds of startups build on the same few foundation models.
    • Instead of training from scratch, the team fine-tuned a foundation model.

Origin & history

first known use2021

Coined by researchers at Stanford University in an August 2021 report.

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Related terms

large language model a very large neural network trained on huge amounts of text to predict the next token, which… frontier model one of the most capable AI models available at a given time, typically the newest and most… fine-tuning further training of an existing model on a smaller, focused dataset so it gets better at a… base model a language model that has only been pre-trained, not yet tuned to follow instructions or chat…

Cite this entry

"Foundation model." AI Dictionary, Dadgogo, https://dadgogo.com/dictionary/foundation-model/. Accessed 4 Oct. 2026.

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