> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://handbook.sutro.sh/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Fine-tuning and RL

> When to consider fine-tuning or reinforcement learning for analytical AI tasks, and why prompt optimization should usually come first.

## Fine-tuning and RL

As we've mentioned above, and will mention elsewhere: don't reach for this first most analytical AI use-cases. For one thing it's typically not necessary and a waste of time/money to gather the [data that's needed](/patterns/context/expert-annotation/what-good-annotations-capture) - and for another it locks model behavior into weights which can make further adaptation more difficult. Push [automated prompt optimization](/patterns/consistency/task-specificity) as far as possible before deciding a task needs fine-tuning.