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FlashAttention Part Three: Understanding the GPU memory hierarchy and how each component can be used to optimize performance. Dimitris Poulopoulos May 8th GPU Memory HierarchyFaster than your company’s organization chart! In our last chapter, we delved into the attention mechanism—today's superstar in the world of Deep Learning. We now have a basic understanding of how attention works, so, before we explore the various types of attention mechanisms, let's circle back to this month's topic:...
FlashAttention Part Two: An intuitive introduction to the attention mechanism, with real-world analogies, simple visuals, and plain narrative. Dimitris Poulopoulos April 15th Attention, Please! (Part I) Attention is all you need, but the span is limited In the previous chapter, I introduced the FlashAttention mechanism from a high-level perspective, following an "Explain Like I'm 5" (ELI5) approach. This method resonates with me the most; I always strive to connect challenging concepts to...
Part One: An ELI5 introduction to "FlashAttention", a fast, IO-aware, memory-efficient mechanism, promising faster training times on longer sequences. Dimitris Poulopoulos April 8th Unraveling FlashAttention A Leap Forward in Language Modeling As I pondered the topic for my newsletter, the idea of explaining how the attention mechanism works immediately stood out. Indeed, when launching a new series, starting with the fundamentals is a wise strategy, and Large Language Models (LLMs) are the...