In this beginner-friendly talk, we’ll explore the scaling laws that explain how AI performance improves as we scale up compute. You’ll learn how models are pre-trained and why bigger models often deliver better results. You will understand why developers and researchers use techniques like fine-tuning and distillation to optimize model performance and why reasoning models continue to push performance even further. What does this mean for developers building real AI applications? No advanced math required — just curiosity and a desire to understand the next generation of AI models.