Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Most transformer models require that the data is euclidian (e.g. a sequence or image). Non-Euclidean deep learning methods like graph neural networks (GNNs) are much more general and can accept almost arbitrarily structured data (social networks, point clouds, trees, etc). You can actually model transformers as a special case of GNNs[1].

[1] https://towardsdatascience.com/transformers-are-graph-neural...



All smooth manifolds can be realised as submanifolds of euclidean space. This is the famous Nash embedding theorem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nash_embedding_theorem

Hence, it's unclear if the power gained by GNNs is actually 'useful'.


What do you mean by useful? GNNs get better performance than other methods on lots of real tasks. It's the same as CNNs being useful in practice despite not having more "theoretical" power than MLPs.


Which tasks where GNNs get better performance have standardized benchmarks?




Consider applying for YC's Winter 2027 batch! Applications are open till November 2.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: