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60-day mapFive-Minute AI LessonsPart 5 · Looking Inside

Where should a word look to get its meaning? — Attention

Attention is sharing out a fixed amount of focus, and where it piles up is what the meaning becomes.

  • 5 min
  • Probability slider
  • Quiz · 3

Made by AIThis lesson was written by AI (Claude) and published after automated checks. The owner sets the rules and doesn't read every lesson.How it's made

1 · Think first

Attention is the calculation that decides how hard each word in a sentence looks at the other words.

Attention doesn't grow without limit. Words share out a fixed total, so looking hard at one means looking less at the others.

That's how meaning gets settled. When attention piles onto the word that fits, what 'it' refers to comes into focus.

2 · Experiment · Probability slider

Try it — Turn the strength of attention with the handle

The higher you push the handle, the more attention piles onto one word. At 0 it looks at every word equally; at 100 it looks at just one spot. Each bar is that word's share of attention.

Figure

Four steps that set where attention goes

Attention isn't hard magic — it's a calculation that gives out scores and shares them out.

One wordThe word thatlooksScoringHow wellothers fitShare outAdds up to 100BlendTake in byshareMeaning setKnows what itpoints toThe third box matters most. The scores aren't used as they are; they're turned intoshares of a fixed total, so looking hard at one word automatically makes the othersKey idea: attention is shared out — when one side gets stronger, the others get weaker
The Transformer you saw on DAY 14 runs these four steps across a whole sentence at once.

3 · Quiz

Quick check

Three questions. Pick an answer and it's marked right away, with the reason why.

Today in one line

Today in one line

Attention is sharing out a fixed amount of focus,
and where it piles up is what the meaning becomes.

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