LLMs from Scratch – Practical Engineering from Base Model to PPO RLHF

Learn to build a complete large language model from scratch using only pure PyTorch. This course takes you through the entire lifecycle, from foundational concepts to advanced alignment techniques. By the end, you'll have the deep, hands-on experience needed to build and customize your own LLMs. ✏️...

Beginner - 366 min - AI & Data - freeCodeCamp.org

The full course: Learn Deep Learning free

What you'll need

• GPU-ready laptop: Train small models locally.
• Laptop stand: Screen at eye level for long study sessions.
• Noise-cancelling headphones: Focus through long video lessons.

Books

1. Deep Learning with Python by Francois Chollet - View on Amazon
2. Deep Learning by Ian Goodfellow - View on Amazon

Next lessons

• Let's build GPT: from scratch, in code, spelled out. (116 min, Andrej Karpathy, Beginner)
• Transformers, the tech behind LLMs | Deep Learning Chapter 5 (27 min, 3Blue1Brown, Intermediate)
• But what is a neural network? | Deep learning chapter 1 (19 min, 3Blue1Brown, Beginner)
• Gradient descent, how neural networks learn | Deep Learning Chapter 2 (21 min, 3Blue1Brown, Intermediate)
• Let's reproduce GPT-2 (124M) (241 min, Andrej Karpathy, Intermediate)
• The spelled-out intro to neural networks and backpropagation: building micrograd (146 min, Andrej Karpathy, Beginner)
• Attention in transformers, step-by-step | Deep Learning Chapter 6 (26 min, 3Blue1Brown, Beginner)
• How might LLMs store facts | Deep Learning Chapter 7 (23 min, 3Blue1Brown, Intermediate)