AI glossary / How it works
Diffusion model
The technique behind most AI image makers. It learns to turn random speckle into a picture that matches your description, one small step at a time.
Think of it as: A sculptor chipping away until the statue appears.
More words in How it works
- DistillationTraining a small, cheap model to copy a big, expensive one so you get most of the skill at a fraction of the cost.
- EmbeddingA way of turning words or images into lists of numbers so a computer can tell which things have similar meanings.
- Emergent behaviourAbilities that show up in large models without anyone specifically training for them.
- Fine-tuningTaking a ready-made AI model and giving it extra training on specific material so it gets good at one particular job.
- GANGenerative adversarial network. An older way of making fake images, where one network creates and another tries to catch it out, so both improve.