Diffusion Models

Diffusion Models are the technology behind DALL-E 2, Stable Diffusion, and Midjourney. They generate high-quality images by learning to reverse a gradual noising process.

Key Insight: If you can learn to denoise images step-by-step, you can generate new images by starting from pure noise.

The Process

Forward Process (Training)

Gradually add noise to real images over T steps until they become pure noise.

Image → Noisy → Noisier → Pure Noise

Reverse Process (Generation)

Learn to denoise step-by-step. Start from noise and gradually remove it to create images.

Pure Noise → Less Noisy → Clear Image

Simplified Denoising Step

This demonstrates a single denoising step (highly simplified).

python
Output:
Click "Run Code" to see output

Why Diffusion Models Excel

  • Quality: Generate extremely high-quality, diverse images
  • Stability: More stable training than GANs
  • Controllability: Easy to guide with text prompts (CLIP guidance)
  • Scalability: Performance improves with model size

Popular Models: Stable Diffusion, DALL-E 2, Imagen, Midjourney