TERBISSeries
AI Fundamentals
From tokens and n-grams to attention and hallucinations — what you need to understand about how modern language models actually work.
Sep 20, 2026Part 1
Tokens and n-grams: the basics nobody explains, and the bill nobody sees coming
You don't pay per word when you use an AI service. You pay per token, and the difference is bigger than it sounds. Here's what a token actually is, where the idea comes from, and why the old n-gram technique still works in the machine room.
Sep 20, 2026Part 2
Attention: the history behind the breakthrough, and why it also explains hallucinations
N-gram models forgot everything beyond a few words. Attention solved that, and made modern language models possible. The same mechanism is also a big part of why they sometimes sound certain about things that aren't true.