# Fine-Tuned Models

> A fine-tuned model is a base AI model further trained on an organisation's own examples, so it answers in the business's patterns, vocabulary and judgement. Done on an owned substrate, it is proprietary intelligence: an asset the company holds rather than a capability it rents.

- Part of: [The Sentry AI Transformation Glossary](https://sentrysolutions.ai/glossary)
- Canonical: https://sentrysolutions.ai/glossary/custom-fine-tuned-models

Fine-tuning is not the first move, and vendors who lead with it are usually selling the expensive thing rather than the right one. Most needs are met by a strong base model plus well-engineered context. Fine-tuning earns its place when the task is narrow, high-volume and pattern-heavy: then a smaller tuned model can answer better, faster and cheaper than a frontier one.

The strategic point is whose asset it becomes. Tuned on data curated in your own knowledge graph, the model is yours: it appears on your side of the ledger and compounds with every correction. That is the Custom Intelligence stage of the AI Transformation Roadmap, and the reason the infrastructure comes first.

## Related terms

- [Company Knowledge Graph](https://sentrysolutions.ai/glossary/company-knowledge-graph)
- [Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)](https://sentrysolutions.ai/glossary/retrieval-augmented-generation)
- [Semantic Model Routing](https://sentrysolutions.ai/glossary/semantic-model-routing)