AI Governance Engineer
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Foundation model

By Updated

A model trained on broad data at scale and adaptable to a wide range of downstream tasks 1. Its defects are inherited by every system built on it, so organisations that call or adapt one collect the provider's evidence and manage the pinned version as a change.

Developed in
ch. 11, Foundation models and GPAI
Chapters
ch. 11, AI Defined
Contrast with
GPAI · Frontier model
Source
1 numbered reference, listed below

Where it is used

8 chapters of the Body of Knowledge use the term. Each link opens the first section that does.

Patterns that use this term

2 pattern pages use the term, most mentions first.

  • Large language model (LLM)

    A foundation model for language, usually served from a data centre behind an API.

  • Provider

    Under the EU AI Act, whoever develops an AI system or general-purpose AI model, or has one developed, and places it on the market or puts it into service…

Sources

  1. [1] On the Opportunities and Risks of Foundation Models ("trained on broad data at scale"; defects inherited downstream; arXiv 2108.07258). Bommasani et al. (Stanford CRFM). 2021-08-16. https://arxiv.org/abs/2108.07258 (verified: primary)

Definitions of legal terms paraphrase the cited text, which governs. Dated statements are as of .

Cite this term

García Aibar, J. (2026). Foundation model. In AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis & Body of Knowledge (v0.5.0), Glossary. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22956197. https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/foundation-model. CC BY 4.0

BibTeX

@misc{aige2026foundationmodel,
  author  = {Jorge García Aibar},
  title   = {{Foundation model}},
  note    = {Glossary, AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis \& Body of Knowledge, version 0.5.0},
  year    = {2026},
  doi     = {10.5281/zenodo.22956197},
  url     = {https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/foundation-model}
}