> I do not think it is a proper thing to do for 17 y.o., unless they are exceptionally mathematically gifted

I attempted many projects at a young age that I was absolutely not equipped for. The result of the attempts more often than not left me equipped, every time it left me better off. This is terrible advice.

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BoredomIsFun 2 hours ago | parent [-]

That'd would be a terrible advice if there weren't a plenty of other things "you are not equipped for", but far less daunting both theoretically and practically. Such as, say, convolutional neural networks, or some older ML tech. Or even something totally unrelated to ML.

Transformers are difficult to understand even to people with strong ML background, let alone a teenager.

	▲	mdp2021 28 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		You are assuming the 17yo in question as an untrained underdeveloped savage. If I were 17 in 2026, I would certainly have exploited all the availabilities from 2010 on - including YouTube, OpenCourseware, the Web simply (Sebastian Raschka etc.) and LLMs. That 17yo would have already built many uncommon bases, and would build further. That is, a 17yo with proper mentality.