RAG vs Fine-Tuning Explained: What They Actually Do and When to Use Each

Towards Data Science explores RAG and Fine-Tuning as distinct techniques addressing different problems. Meanwhile, professional users employ Claude, ChatGPT, and Copilot for task planning, coding, and reviews. While these AI agents excel at generating code for greenfield projects, users and colleagues report a noticeable decrease in output quality when working with legacy code. Because some codebases are entirely legacy, the utility of these agents varies depending on the specific project requirements and existing infrastructure.