Few-Shot Learning
A technique where AI models learn to perform tasks from only a small number of examples.
Few-shot learning enables AI models to generalize from a very small number of examples — typically 1 to 5. This contrasts with traditional supervised learning, which often requires thousands or millions of labeled examples. The approach is particularly powerful with large language models, where providing a few examples in the prompt (in-context learning) can guide the model to perform new tasks.
In the context of LLMs, few-shot prompting involves including example input-output pairs in the prompt to demonstrate the desired behavior. Zero-shot learning goes further, requiring no examples at all — just task instructions. These techniques have made it possible to adapt powerful models without any fine-tuning.
Few-shot learning is important for applications where labeled data is scarce, expensive, or time-sensitive. Engineers who understand prompt-based few-shot learning and metric-based few-shot approaches can build AI systems that adapt quickly to new domains and requirements.
Related AI Job Categories
Related Terms
Prompt Engineering
The practice of designing and refining inputs to AI models to produce desired outputs.
Large Language Model (LLM)
A neural network trained on massive text datasets that can understand and generate human language.
Transfer Learning
A technique where a model trained on one task is reused as the starting point for a model on a different but related task.