Fine-tuning an LLM to write docs like it's 1995
The article discusses the process of fine-tuning a language model to emulate the writing style of technical writers from the 1990s. The author utilized a collection of old Microsoft manuals as training material, highlighting the challenges of sourcing sufficient data for effective model training. The project is independent and non-commercial, focusing on style transfer rather than fact retrieval.
- ▪The author fine-tuned a model to write like a technical writer from the 90s using old Microsoft manuals.
- ▪Bitsavers is a valuable resource for accessing historical computer documentation.
- ▪Fine-tuning is a cost-effective alternative to training a model from scratch, requiring less data and resources.
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Fine-tuning an LLM to write docs like it's 1995 Posted on Jun 1, 2026 · 10 min read In my predictions for 2030 I wrote that tech writers would be using specialized LLMs, running locally on powerful hardware. I see hints of this move to “local first” among engineering pundits, but we’re not there yet, in part because of how much more powerful connected frontier models are. That doesn’t mean we can’t experiment, though. That’s precisely what I did last week, trying to fine-tune an instruct model to write like a software technical writer from the 80s and 90s. Summoning old tech writing lore for research To train a personal, local model to write like a technical writer from the 90s, one needs tons of written sources.
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