Are transformers - a hack devised/stumbled upon by AI workers or - a theoretical concept concocted by a mathematician who has been thinking about what NNs do

Are transformers - a hack devised/stumbled upon by AI workers or - a theoretical concept concocted by a mathematician who has been thinking about what NNs do or, - a set of techniques pipe-lined together by clever programmers who work with NNs? Or... - something else? I mean, if transformers really do something rational, then there should be a straightforward rational mathematical statement of the problem, a clear and clean expression of what they do! What I see instead is a lot of complex cumbersome description and terminological noise: no clear problem statement, lots of steps, lots of moving parts, and downhill from there. Now I'd be the first to admit that, if I believed I understood and could reproduce intelligence or language [and is intelligence merely language? An argument to that effect can be made - see Helen Keller], then if required I'd be prone to provide dense, noisy and incorrect explanations aplenty to potential competitors and even to honest inquisitive people. I would do that b/c revelation of the truth would destroy my competitive advantage. IOW I see every reason for ChatGPT et al developers and corporations to guide outsiders astray at this time. Developing something like ChatGPT is like running an exposed Manhattan Project - everyone wants Da Bomb and you don't want them to have it - instead you want to lead them completely astray. Seems to be succeeding: certainly as far as I'm concerned. Here's a simple test: has anyone within reach of my words made a version of these systems from scratch that does anything like the fullblown ChatGPT does and that (s)he will reveal? Current times would indicate that we won't learn how it all works until someone leaks it or someone else figures it out (like happened to Heisenberg and Schrodinger). My bet is on the latter. And that's the guy/gal who should get the Fields medal or Nobel Prize. [I'd bet a mathematician will do it]. Meanwhile as we twiddle our matrices much effort must be afoot to infiltrate the ChatGPT working groups and get the goods and also to keep the current ChatGPT worker bees from flying off to other hives and revealing secrets. This may be one of the few times when tech workers' jobs seriously shorten their lives. - Wandering in the desert...