I think this video does a pretty good job explaining it, starting about 10:30 minutes in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S27pHKBEp30

As the first comment says "This aged like fine wine". Six years old, but the fundamentals haven't changed.

That was the class where I really learned how to prove things in math. Very challenging, and rewarding class.

Same

I don't think you really want a 5yo's version, because that's "computers can be smart". But for an SDE1-level explanation I made this video which has gotten tons of compliments and keeps people watching year after year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S27pHKBEp30

It's in the context of NLP, which is where transformers started of course.

"Thirty Years that Shook Physics", by George Gamow, fits the bill pretty well.