---
Title: "How Are AI Chatbots Trained?"
Url: "https://computer.io/answers/how-are-ai-chatbots-trained"
Topic: "Chatbots"
Description: "AI chatbots use language models pre-trained on large text corpora, then adapted with instructions, company knowledge, examples and human feedback."
---

# How are AI chatbots trained?

Most AI chatbots are built on large language models that were pre-trained on huge amounts of text and then tuned with human feedback to follow instructions. Businesses rarely retrain the model; they adapt it with instructions, connect it to company knowledge through retrieval, add example conversations, and improve it by reviewing transcripts and fixing gaps.

## Layers of "training"

| Layer | Who does it | What it adds |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-training | Model provider | General language ability |
| Instruction tuning and RLHF | Model provider | Following instructions safely |
| Fine-tuning (optional) | Business or vendor | Style or domain behavior |
| Retrieval (RAG) | Business | Current company facts |
| Instructions and guardrails | Business | Rules, tone, scope |
| Ongoing review | Business | Fixes for gaps and errors |

## Why retrieval beats retraining for support

Company facts change often. Retrieval lets the bot use current information without retraining, and makes it possible to cite sources.

## FAQ

### Do I need to train my own AI chatbot model?

Usually not. Connecting a capable model to your knowledge and writing good instructions is enough for most support use cases.

### What data is used to train chatbots?

Foundation models use large public and licensed text datasets. Business chatbots then use company documents, policies and past conversations through retrieval.

### How long does it take to train a chatbot?

Setting up retrieval and instructions can take days; pre-training a model takes providers months.

## Related terms

- [Large language model (LLM)](https://computer.io/glossary/large-language-model)
- [Fine-tuning](https://computer.io/glossary/fine-tuning)
- [Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)](https://computer.io/glossary/retrieval-augmented-generation)
- [Do AI chatbots learn from live agent corrections?](https://computer.io/answers/do-ai-chatbots-learn-from-agent-corrections)

## How Computer helps

- [Agent studio](https://devrev.ai/agent-studio)
- [Customer agent](https://devrev.ai/solutions/customer-agent)

## Further reading

- [How do chatbots work](https://devrev.ai/blog/how-do-chatbots-work)
- [Continuous improvement of rag results](https://devrev.ai/blog/continuous-improvement-of-rag-results)