Architecture

Softmax

Definition

A mathematical function that converts a vector of raw logits into a probability distribution summing to 1. Softmax is applied at the output of classifiers and language models to produce token probabilities used in sampling and decoding.

Related Terms

Logit

The raw, unnormalised score produced by a model's final layer before the softmax function is applied. Logits are useful for calibration, temperature scaling, and understanding a model's confidence distribution across possible output classes.

Cross-Entropy Loss

The most common training objective for classification and language modelling tasks, measuring the difference between predicted probability distributions and true labels. Minimising cross-entropy loss during training drives the model to assign high probability to correct outputs.

Top-p Sampling (Nucleus Sampling)

A decoding strategy that restricts the model's next-token choices to the smallest set of tokens whose cumulative probability exceeds a threshold p. Used alongside temperature, top-p sampling balances output diversity and coherence in production LLM deployments.

Knowing the Terms Is Step One. Applying Them Is Step Two.

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