From the comment in the code:
// _unsafe_view() differs from view() in that the returned tensor isn't treated
// as a view for the purposes of automatic differentiation. (It's not listed in
// VIEW_FUNCTIONS in gen_autograd.py). It's only safe to use if the `self` tensor
// is temporary. For example, the viewed tensor here (a + b) is discarded immediately
// after viewing:
//
// res = at::_unsafe_view(a + b, size);
//
// This is a hack because in-place operations on tensors treated like views
// can be much more expensive than the same operations on non-view tensors.
Used e.g. in matmul.