--- title: "Baking a Model" url: https://daily.dev/posts/baking-a-model-2pfmlmzyh source_url: https://newsletter.kentbeck.com/p/baking-a-model type: article source: "Software Design: Tidy First?" published: 2026-08-14T13:41:53.749Z updated: 2026-08-14T13:53:32.002Z tags: ["ai", "machine-learning", "llm"] reading_time: 5 upvotes: 1 comments: 0 language: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Baking a Model **[Software Design: Tidy First?](https://daily.dev/sources/tidyfirst)** · 5 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Kent Beck reflects on his fascination with how AI models are built, using a baking analogy to explain pre-training and post-training. Pre-training is described as a massive, expensive, one-shot batch process (akin to cold proofing dough) that produces raw, unusable model weights, while post-training is an iterative, collaborative series of small tweaks (the shaping and baking) that turns the raw model into something useful for humans. The piece is exploratory and speculative, framed as the author's attempt to understand the process, with a promise of a followup on the teams and roles involved. Ends with a promotional pitch for the author's advisory and speaking services. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What is the difference between pre-training and post-training in building an AI model? Pre-training is a single massive batch process where a team sets initial conditions—data and a blank model—and runs the data through it repeatedly, costing hundreds of millions of dollars and months of time, producing a raw but unusable model. Post-training consists of many small, iterative experiments that researchers apply as targeted tweaks to fix specific weaknesses, turning the raw model into something usable for tasks like conversation. _Developers tracking how LLMs actually get built can follow ongoing explainers like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Machine Learning Blog \| ML@CMU \| Carnegie Mellon University](https://daily.dev/posts/machine-learning-blog-ml-cmu-carnegie-mellon-university-yhdqaje8i) · ML CMU · 24 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#ai](https://daily.dev/tags/ai), [#machine-learning](https://daily.dev/tags/machine-learning), [#llm](https://daily.dev/tags/llm) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/baking-a-model-2pfmlmzyh)