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  3. /Cross-Attention
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Cross-Attention

An attention mechanism where one sequence attends to a different sequence.

Definition

An attention mechanism where one sequence attends to a different sequence. In encoder-decoder models, the decoder uses cross-attention to look at the encoder's output. In text-to-image models, it's how the image generation process attends to the text prompt. Distinct from self-attention where a sequence attends to itself.

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Related Terms

Attention

A mechanism that lets neural networks focus on the most relevant parts of their input when producing output.

Self-Attention

An attention mechanism where a sequence attends to itself — each element looks at all other elements to understand relationships.

Encoder-Decoder

A neural network architecture with two parts: an encoder that processes the input into a representation, and a decoder that generates the output from that representation.

Activation Function

A mathematical function applied to a neuron's output that introduces non-linearity into the network.

Adam Optimizer

An optimization algorithm that combines the best parts of two other methods — AdaGrad and RMSProp.

AGI

Artificial General Intelligence.

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