> The first transformer models didn’t even use CUDA and CUDA didn’t have mass ecosystem inroads till years later. I graduated college in 2010 and I took a clas

> The first transformer models didn’t even use CUDA and CUDA didn’t have mass ecosystem inroads till years later. I graduated college in 2010 and I took a class taught in CUDA before graduating. CUDA was a primary driver of NN research at the time. Sure, other tools were available, but CUDA allowed people to build and distribute actually useful software which further encouraged the space. Could things have happened without it? Yeah, for sure, but it would have taken a good deal longer.