# LARGE: Latent-Based Regression through GAN Semantics

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2107.11186 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.11186/

## Key facts

- Cited by 17 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 75 of its 87 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 22 Jul 2021.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 75)

- [Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.03385/) (2015)
- [Learning Transferable Visual Models From Natural Language Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.00020/) (2021)
- [The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Deep Features as a Perceptual Metric](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.03924/) (2018)
- [EfficientNet: Rethinking Model Scaling for Convolutional Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.11946/) (2019)
- [A Style-Based Generator Architecture for Generative Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.04948/) (2018)
- [Rethinking the Inception Architecture for Computer Vision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.00567/) (2015)
- [Image-to-Image Translation with Conditional Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1611.07004/) (2016)
- [Analyzing and Improving the Image Quality of StyleGAN](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.04958/) (2019)
- [Wide Residual Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1605.07146/) (2016)
- [Prototypical Networks for Few-shot Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.05175/) (2017)
- [Progressive Growing of GANs for Improved Quality, Stability, and Variation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1710.10196/) (2017)
- [Improved Techniques for Training GANs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.03498/) (2016)
- [Unsupervised Learning of Visual Features by Contrasting Cluster Assignments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.09882/) (2020)
- [Large Scale GAN Training for High Fidelity Natural Image Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1809.11096/) (2018)
- [RandAugment: Practical automated data augmentation with a reduced search space](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.13719/) (2019)
- [Matching Networks for One Shot Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.04080/) (2016)
- [Photo-Realistic Single Image Super-Resolution Using a Generative Adversarial Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.04802/) (2016)
- [LSUN: Construction of a Large-scale Image Dataset using Deep Learning with Humans in the Loop](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1506.03365/) (2015)
- [Training Generative Adversarial Networks with Limited Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.06676/) (2020)
- [Learning to Compare: Relation Network for Few-Shot Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.06025/) (2017)
- [StarGAN v2: Diverse Image Synthesis for Multiple Domains](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.01865/) (2019)
- [StyleCLIP: Text-Driven Manipulation of StyleGAN Imagery](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.17249/) (2021)
- [Encoding in Style: a StyleGAN Encoder for Image-to-Image Translation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2008.00951/) (2020)
- [Interpreting the Latent Space of GANs for Semantic Face Editing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1907.10786/) (2019)
- [Image2StyleGAN: How to Embed Images Into the StyleGAN Latent Space?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.03189/) (2019)
- [GANSpace: Discovering Interpretable GAN Controls](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.02546/) (2020)
- [Designing an Encoder for StyleGAN Image Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.02766/) (2021)
- [In-Domain GAN Inversion for Real Image Editing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.00049/) (2020)
- [Closed-Form Factorization of Latent Semantics in GANs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.06600/) (2020)
- [The Effectiveness of Data Augmentation in Image Classification using Deep Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1712.04621/) (2017)

## Built on by (most cited first, 17 of 17)

- [Encoder-based Domain Tuning for Fast Personalization of Text-to-Image Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.12228/) (2023)
- [StyleGAN-NADA: CLIP-Guided Domain Adaptation of Image Generators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.00946/) (2021)
- [MoDi: Unconditional Motion Synthesis from Diverse Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.08010/) (2022)
- [StyleAlign: Analysis and Applications of Aligned StyleGAN Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.11323/) (2021)
- [State-of-the-Art in the Architecture, Methods and Applications of StyleGAN](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.14020/) (2022)
- [Finding Directions in GAN's Latent Space for Neural Face Reenactment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.00046/) (2022)
- [Injecting 3D Perception of Controllable NeRF-GAN into StyleGAN for Editable Portrait Image Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.10257/) (2022)
- [Counterfactual Explanations for Medical Image Classification and Regression using Diffusion Autoencoder](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.01571/) (2024)
- [Self-Conditioned Generative Adversarial Networks for Image Editing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.04040/) (2022)
- [One-shot Neural Face Reenactment via Finding Directions in GAN's Latent Space](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.03553/) (2024)
- [Edit One for All: Interactive Batch Image Editing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.10219/) (2024)
- [Img2Tab: Automatic Class Relevant Concept Discovery from StyleGAN Features for Explainable Image Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.06324/) (2023)
- [Semantic Latent Space Regression of Diffusion Autoencoders for Vertebral Fracture Grading](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.12031/) (2023)
- [The Aging Multiverse: Generating Condition-Aware Facial Aging Tree via Training-Free Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.21008/) (2025)
- [Controllable GAN Synthesis Using Non-Rigid Structure-from-Motion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.07195/) (2022)
- [Intriguing Properties of Modern GANs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.14098/) (2024)
- [Generation and Editing of Mandrill Faces: Application to Sex Editing and Assessment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.12705/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We propose a novel method for solving regression tasks using few-shot or weak supervision. At the core of our method is the fundamental observation that GANs are incredibly successful at encoding semantic information within their latent space, even in a completely unsupervised setting. For modern generative frameworks, this semantic encoding manifests as smooth, linear directions which affect image attributes in a disentangled manner. These directions have been widely used in GAN-based image editing. We show that such directions are not only linear, but that the magnitude of change induced on the respective attribute is approximately linear with respect to the distance traveled along them. By leveraging this observation, our method turns a pre-trained GAN into a regression model, using as few as two labeled samples. This enables solving regression tasks on datasets and attributes which are difficult to produce quality supervision for. Additionally, we show that the same latent-distances can be used to sort collections of images by the strength of given attributes, even in the absence of explicit supervision. Extensive experimental evaluations demonstrate that our method can be applied across a wide range of domains, leverage multiple latent direction discovery frameworks, and achieve state-of-the-art results in few-shot and low-supervision settings, even when compared to methods designed to tackle a single task.