HACKER Q&A
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A Brief History of LLMs


Does anyone have suggestions for a book or an article that goes over the modern history of ML/LLM and how the field reached the inflection point that paved the path to the current state.

  👤 verdverm Accepted Answer ✓
This is decent on history, good on contemporary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R83pFpUWyM

roughly

1. word2vec ('13)

2. transformers ('18)

3. chatgpt ('22)

4. claude code, i.e. tools / bash (mid '25)

5. llms trained for agentic workflow (nov '25)

6. cost reckoning ('26)

7. open weight models break the financial models of Big Ai ('26?)