The Flow has not summarised this story yet — read it at arXiv Machine Learning.
Drifting models offer a promising route to faster generative AI: they perform gradual transport during training, while generating new samples in a single step. This paper asks whether the underlying d...
arXiv:2607. 12171v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: In rectified-flow-based generative models, the neural network can be trained to predict two different targets, such as the instantaneous velocity or the data endpoint, to perform denoising.
In rectified-flow-based generative models, the neural network can be trained to predict two different targets, such as the instantaneous velocity or the data endpoint, to perform denoising. Although prior work shows that these parameterizations lead to different empirical behaviors, the mechanisms underlying their respective advantages remain to be underexplored, and how to combine them effectively is still unclear.
arXiv:2608. 07924v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Drifting models are a recent class of one-step generative models that evolve the model distribution during training using a predefined sample-based drift field.
The paper presents a new one‑step generative modeling framework for finite state spaces, leveraging discrete Wasserstein geometry to define a target‑relative KL gradient flow over a reversible Markov kernel. The authors implement this flow at the particle level using Markov jumps and encode the resulting transport updates into a latent‑conditioned generator, enabling one‑step inference after training. Experiments on a controlled setting confirm KL dissipation, consistency between particle dynamics and probability flow, and accurate numerical scaling, while a finite‑capacity neural generator successfully tracks the exact transport targets.
Generative models have undergone many generations of evolution, from VAEs/GANs to diffusion/flow matching. Along the way, the underlying techniques have become more complicated and various beliefs about what drives strong empirical performance have taken hold.