Why Everyone Should Understand Transformers

When I first heard the word Transformer in an AI context, I thought someone had mixed up a pitch deck with a Marvel script.

But once you understand what a Transformer is—and how it changed everything about AI—you realise this isn't technical trivia. It’s commercial context.

And most executives don’t have it.

Here’s the short version:

Until 2017, most AI models were slow, narrow, and not particularly useful outside research labs or niche use cases.

Then Google published a paper titled “Attention Is All You Need”. That phrase introduced a new architecture—the Transformer—which replaced older, less efficient models like RNNs (Recurrent Neural Networks) and LSTMs (Long Short-Term Memory).

In plain terms: the Transformer made AI faster, better at understanding language, and scalable enough to train on massive amounts of data.

That’s how we got to GPT, Claude, Gemini, and all the tools you're hearing about today.

So why should this matter to you?

Because the breakthrough wasn’t just about more computing power or more data. It was about changing how AI understands context.

The Transformer architecture does something simple but powerful: it pays attention to everything at once rather than processing words one at a time like older models did.

That small change led to a huge leap. It’s the reason AI can now write emails, summarise documents, write code, and even reason across multiple steps.

In other words, if you want to understand the limits—and potential—of AI in your business, this is the starting point.

Here’s where most teams get stuck
They don’t know what matters.

They sit through AI demos or strategy sessions and nod along, but walk away unclear: What’s hype? What’s real? What applies to us?

You don’t need to become a machine learning engineer to lead with AI. But you do need to understand the mechanics of progress—especially when it’s changing how people work, serve, and compete.

That’s why our AI Masterclass starts here.

We break down the foundations in plain English: what a Transformer is, why it matters, and how this shift is reshaping every function from sales to HR to operations.

No fluff. Just what your team needs to make decisions with confidence.