Why build retrieval instead of fine-tuning the model on...

Building a retrieval system is superior to fine-tuning for company documents because it addresses critical bottlenecks that fine-tuning ignores: attribution, deletion, and adaptability. Fine-tuning is a static process that requires significant compute (optimizer states and FLOPs) and does not allow for the surgical removal of data. Furthermore, claiming that RAG prevents hallucination is a misconception; both systems can hallucinate if the retrieval or training data is flawed, but RAG provides a mechanism for attribution that fine-tuning lacks.