Foundation model

A large model trained broadly on huge datasets that can then be adapted to many tasks, rather than built for one. In imaging, a foundation model can handle several modalities instead of one narrow job.

When you paste a discharge summary into a general AI tool and ask it to draft patient instructions, you're using a foundation model. It was trained on enormous general text, not your hospital's data, which is why it writes fluently and also why it will state a wrong dose with total confidence. The fluency is not knowledge. In clinical use the question is never "does it sound right," it's "who checks it before it reaches the patient."

Terms like this come up in real clinical scenarios across the HelloAI courses: bite-sized modules with verifiable certificates. An account takes one minute, no password needed.