How the machines work

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Latent space

Lesson 3 of 13 in How the machines work.

Variational Autoencoders · Arxiv Insights
Lesson

Working directly on pixels is too expensive, so modern image models compress first. A picture goes into a smaller representation that keeps what matters and throws away what does not, the denoising happens in that compressed space, and a decoder turns the result back into pixels at the end. The compressed space is the latent space, and it is where the model actually thinks.

pixels inencodelatentsmall, and organiseddenoiseheredecodepixels outfine detail is lost on the way IN, not fumbled on the way outwhich is why small type never survives
Pixels compressed into a small latent space, worked on there, then decoded back to pixels.
Three moments across the frame. A large sheet with a bold pot, a leaf and a fine woven pattern; two hands folding it into a small packet; the sheet unfolded again with the pot and leaf fine but the delicate weave smudged into grey.
The bold shapes survive the squeeze. Fine detail is lost on the way in, not on the way out.
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  1. Question 1, locked

    Which of these words means this? “A compressed representation. The model does its work here rather than on pixels, which is why it is affordable.”

    • Latent
    • Compositionality
    • Parameters
    • Overfitting
  2. Question 2, locked

    Which of these words means this? “The encoder and decoder that move between pixels and latents. Responsible for a surprising amount of final image quality.”

    • Benchmark
    • Token
    • VAE
    • Failure mode
  3. Question 3, locked

    Which of these words means this? “Walking between two points in latent space. Produces the smooth morphs you have seen.”

    • Interpolation
    • Determinism
    • Eval
    • Attention

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