Have you ever laughed at a picture of the Pope drinking beer or holding a gun? Then you've witnessed the capabilities of Diffusion Models such as Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, and DALL-E.

This talk will discuss why Diffusion Models were developed, how they work, and what makes them so effective at creating images based on a prompt in natural language.

We will delve into the processes of forward and reverse diffusion, explaining how the AI models build realistic pictures from nothing but noise. We will also explain some of their weird features: for instance, why it is so hard for such models to reproduce text and create realistic hands.

At the end of this talk, you will have a clear idea of the main concept powering diffusion models and understand their strengths and limitations. You will also learn how to use Diffusion Models for practical applications.

First delivered at Codemotion Meetup, 13 February 2024, Milan, Italy
Delivered also at Papers We Love Meetup, 11 April 2024, Milan, Italy