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Comment by janalsncm | Hacker News Reader

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformer_(deep_learning_a...

Yeah, it's literally the most important practical development in AI/ML of the decade. This is like reading an article (or headline, more like) on HN and saying "please define git".

Not everyone is aware of the details of AI/ML, "transformer" is actually a specific term in the space that also overlaps with "transformer" in other fields adjacent to Software Development. This is when we all need to wear our empathy hat and remind ourselves that we exist in a bubble, so when we see an overloaded term, we should add even the most minimal context to help. OP could have added "AI/ML" in the title for minimal effort and real estate. Let's not veer towards the path of elitism.

Also, the majority of developers using version control are using Git. I guarantee the majority of developers outside the AI/ML bubble do not know what a "transformer" is.

Fair enough! Bubble or not, I certainly have very regularly (weekly?) seen headlines on hn about transformers for at least a few years now. Like how bitcoin used to be on hn frontpage every week for a couple years circa 2010 (to the derision of half of the commenters). Not everyone is in the crypto space, but they know what bitcoin is.

Anyhow I suppose the existence of such questions on hn is evidence that I'm in more of a bubble that I esteemed, thanks for the reality check :)

(also my comment was in defense of parent who linked the wiki page, which defines transformer as per request, and is being downvoted for that)

I, too, haven't seen the word "transformer" outside an ML context in months. Didn't stop me from wondering if the OP meant the thing that changes voltage.

>This is like ... saying "please define git"

It's really not. "Git" has a single extremely strong definition for tech people, and a single regional slang definition. "Transformer" has multiple strong definitions for tech people, and multiple strong definitions colloquially.

Not that we can't infer the OP's meaning - just that it's nowhere near as unambiguous as "git".

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