Prof. Tom Yeh releases interactive diagram comparing Full Fine-Tuning vs LoRA by hand

ProfTomYeh · x · 2026-09-05

Prof. Tom Yeh released an interactive, drag-and-drop diagram (part 9 of his Fine-Tuning series) comparing Full Fine-Tuning and LoRA side by side: same input, same output shape, with the only difference being the weight update — full fine-tuning touches all parameters, while LoRA touches only the low-rank ΔW sized by the chosen rank.

He includes true/false self-test questions (e.g., does growing batch size grow trainable parameters; is full fine-tuning's count untouched when raising rank; can a high enough rank make LoRA cost more than a full fine-tune), with answers verifiable by dragging the diagram. His point: students grasp what LoRA is but not why it's cheap — until you drag the rank and watch one count fall while the other doesn't move.

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