The Transformer: Attention Is All You Need
Back to Writing

The Transformer: Attention Is All You Need

Michael BrenndoerferNovember 2, 202516 min read3,845 wordsInteractive

A comprehensive guide to the Transformer architecture, including self-attention mechanisms, multi-head attention, positional encodings, and how it revolutionized natural language processing by enabling parallel training and large-scale language models.

History of Language AI Cover
Part of History of Language AI

This article is part of the free-to-read History of Language AI book

View full handbook
Reading Level

Choose your expertise level to adjust how many terms are explained. Beginners see more tooltips, experts see fewer to maintain reading flow. Hover over underlined terms for instant definitions.

Loading component...
Loading component...

Reference

BIBTEXAcademic
@misc{thetransformerattentionisallyouneed, author = {Michael Brenndoerfer}, title = {The Transformer: Attention Is All You Need}, year = {2025}, url = {https://mbrenndoerfer.com/writing/transformer-attention-is-all-you-need}, organization = {mbrenndoerfer.com}, note = {Accessed: 2025-11-02} }
APAAcademic
Michael Brenndoerfer (2025). The Transformer: Attention Is All You Need. Retrieved from https://mbrenndoerfer.com/writing/transformer-attention-is-all-you-need
MLAAcademic
Michael Brenndoerfer. "The Transformer: Attention Is All You Need." 2025. Web. 11/2/2025. <https://mbrenndoerfer.com/writing/transformer-attention-is-all-you-need>.
CHICAGOAcademic
Michael Brenndoerfer. "The Transformer: Attention Is All You Need." Accessed 11/2/2025. https://mbrenndoerfer.com/writing/transformer-attention-is-all-you-need.
HARVARDAcademic
Michael Brenndoerfer (2025) 'The Transformer: Attention Is All You Need'. Available at: https://mbrenndoerfer.com/writing/transformer-attention-is-all-you-need (Accessed: 11/2/2025).
SimpleBasic
Michael Brenndoerfer (2025). The Transformer: Attention Is All You Need. https://mbrenndoerfer.com/writing/transformer-attention-is-all-you-need
Michael Brenndoerfer

About the author: Michael Brenndoerfer

All opinions expressed here are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer.

Michael currently works as an Associate Director of Data Science at EQT Partners in Singapore, where he drives AI and data initiatives across private capital investments.

With over a decade of experience spanning private equity, management consulting, and software engineering, he specializes in building and scaling analytics capabilities from the ground up. He has published research in leading AI conferences and holds expertise in machine learning, natural language processing, and value creation through data.

Stay updated

Get notified when I publish new articles on data and AI, private equity, technology, and more.