Neural Networks: The First Step Toward Understanding Transformers

Understanding Neural Networks — The Foundation You Need Before Transformers Whenever we try to start learning about LLMs, the first word we come across is "Transformer," which is based on the paper Attention Is All You Need . But when we start reading about it, we find it confusing. Do you know why? Because while reading, we come across a popular term — "neural architecture" and we're like, "Yeah, we understand it," but to be honest, we don't. My goal is to make all the basics required to understand Transformers clear. In today's post, we will discuss neural networks, divided into five sections: What is a neural network? Why do we need a neural network? How does it work? What advantages does it provide, and what are the use cases and limitations? What more can be explored in the future — research areas 1. What Is a Neural Network? A neural network, in a very simplified way, is nothing but a way to make our model mimic how our brain functions or, you could say, how it processes informat