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The scaling of Large Language Models, aimed at enhancing performance and computational power, can be classified according to the developmental stage where it is applied. The main categories are pre-training scaling, fine-tuning scaling, and inference-time scaling.

Types of LLM Scaling

A key distinction between different scaling strategies for Large Language Models lies in their mechanism for improvement. Pre-training and fine-tuning scaling rely on updating the model's parameters through further training, whereas inference-time scaling enhances model performance during application without altering its trained parameters.

Comparison of Scaling Approaches: Parameter Updates vs. Inference-Time Methods

A development team is tasked with improving a large language model's performance for a specific enterprise function. They decide to continue the training process on a new, curated dataset composed of 10,000 internal company documents. This additional training adjusts the model's existing parameters to better suit the company's specific terminology and tasks. Based on the stage of the model's lifecycle where this improvement is applied, which type of scaling is being implemented?

Analyze the two proposed strategies. Which strategy represents an inference-time scaling solution? Justify your choice by explaining why this approach is better suited to the startup's specific constraints (limited resources, daily data updates) compared to the alternative.

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