Meta-Learning via Classifier(-free) Diffusion Guidance
On the map: Diffusion models → Diffusion foundations and sampling
Abstract (arXiv)
We introduce meta-learning algorithms that perform zero-shot weight-space adaptation of neural network models to unseen tasks. Our methods repurpose the popular generative image synthesis techniques of natural language guidance and diffusion models to generate neural network weights adapted for tasks. We first train an unconditional generative hypernetwork model to produce neural network weights; then we train a second "guidance" model that, given a natural language task description, traverses the hypernetwork latent space to find high-performance task-adapted weights in a zero-shot manner. We explore two alternative approaches for latent space guidance: "HyperCLIP"-based classifier guidance and a conditional Hypernetwork Latent Diffusion Model ("HyperLDM"), which we show to benefit from the classifier-free guidance technique common in image generation. Finally, we demonstrate that our approaches outperform existing multi-task and meta-learning methods in a series of zero-shot learning experiments on our Meta-VQA dataset.
Key facts. Cited by 9 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in Diffusion foundations and sampling, one of 14 directions in Diffusion models. Builds on 44 of its 60 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 17 Oct 2022.
Builds on
44 of 60 references.
Closest ancestors · 5
Same direction, newest first
- 2022Classifier-Free Diffusion Guidance26 Jul
- 2021High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Models20 Dec
- 2021Diffusion Models Beat GANs on Image Synthesis11 May
- 2020Score-Based Generative Modeling through Stochastic Differential Equations26 Nov
- 2020Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models19 Jun
Other references · 39
- 2014Adam: A Method for Stochastic Optimizationcited by 37,240
- 2021Learning Transferable Visual Models From Natural Language Supervisioncited by 33,744
- 2020Language Models are Few-Shot Learnerscited by 32,419
- 2015U-Net: Convolutional Networks for Biomedical Image Segmentationcited by 19,713
- 2015Deep Unsupervised Learning using Nonequilibrium Thermodynamicscited by 7,058
- 2022Hierarchical Text-Conditional Image Generation with CLIP Latentscited by 6,585
- 2022Generative Adversarial Networkscited by 5,627
- 2017Model-Agnostic Meta-Learning for Fast Adaptation of Deep Networkscited by 4,897
- 2017Squeeze-and-Excitation Networkscited by 4,789
- 2019Generative Modeling by Estimating Gradients of the Data Distributioncited by 4,101
- 2021GLIDE: Towards Photorealistic Image Generation and Editing with Text-Guided Diffusion Modelscited by 3,614
- 2015Delving Deep into Rectifiers: Surpassing Human-Level Performance on ImageNet Classificationcited by 3,611
27 more
- 2018Large Scale GAN Training for High Fidelity Natural Image Synthesiscited by 2,626
- 2018Neural Tangent Kernel: Convergence and Generalization in Neural Networkscited by 2,621
- 2016Making the V in VQA Matter: Elevating the Role of Image Understanding in Visual Question Answeringcited by 2,516
- 2017FiLM: Visual Reasoning with a General Conditioning Layercited by 2,333
- 2022Planning with Diffusion for Flexible Behavior Synthesiscited by 1,061
- 2016HyperNetworkscited by 1,027
- 2021CLIP-Adapter: Better Vision-Language Models with Feature Adapterscited by 1,026
- 2018On First-Order Meta-Learning Algorithmscited by 1,018
- 2021StyleCLIP: Text-Driven Manipulation of StyleGAN Imagerycited by 991
- 2018Meta-Learning with Latent Embedding Optimizationcited by 476
- 2018Meta-learning with differentiable closed-form solverscited by 397
- 2021AudioCLIP: Extending CLIP to Image, Text and Audiocited by 339
- 2019Continual learning with hypernetworkscited by 273
- 2019Meta-Learning with Warped Gradient Descentcited by 98
- 2021Contrastive Embedding for Generalized Zero-Shot Learningcited by 94
- 2021Guided-TTS: A Diffusion Model for Text-to-Speech via Classifier Guidancecited by 84
- 2017Bayesian Hypernetworkscited by 66
- 2022Hyper-Representations as Generative Models: Sampling Unseen Neural Network Weightscited by 64
- 2022HyperTransformer: Model Generation for Supervised and Semi-Supervised Few-Shot Learningcited by 55
- 2019HyperGAN: A Generative Model for Diverse, Performant Neural Networkscited by 51
- 2021Posterior Meta-Replay for Continual Learningcited by 45
- 2022Gender and Racial Bias in Visual Question Answering Datasetscited by 39
- 2021Learning where to learn: Gradient sparsity in meta and continual learningcited by 33
- 2020Neural networks with late-phase weightscited by 29
- 2018Adversarial Distillation of Bayesian Neural Network Posteriorscited by 27
- 2021Generative Multi-Label Zero-Shot Learningcited by 19
- 2022On the Effectiveness of Fine-tuning Versus Meta-reinforcement Learningcited by 19
Built on by
Citing papers per year: 2024: 4; 2025: 2; 2026: 3.
9 papers.
- 2024Towards Scalable and Versatile Weight Space Learningcited by 41
- 2024Diffusion-Based Neural Network Weights Generationcited by 39
- 2026DeepWeightFlow: Re-Basined Flow Matching for Generating Neural Network Weightscited by 5
- 2025Visual and Semantic Prompt Collaboration for Generalized Zero-Shot Learningcited by 4
- 2025Semantic-guided LoRA Parameters Generationcited by 1
- 2024Designing Time-Series Models With Hypernetworks & Adversarial Portfolioscited by 0
- 2024Hyper-Representations: Learning from Populations of Neural Networkscited by 0
- 2026LARGO: Low-Rank Hypernetwork for Handling Missing Modalitiescited by 0
- 2026WeightCLIP: Aligning Datasets and Models for Weight Space Learningcited by 0
- 2026WeightCLIP: Aligning Datasets and Models for Weight Space Learning3 Jul 2026
- 2026LARGO: Low-Rank Hypernetwork for Handling Missing Modalities7 May 2026
- 2026DeepWeightFlow: Re-Basined Flow Matching for Generating Neural Network Weights8 Jan 2026
- 2025Semantic-guided LoRA Parameters Generation5 Sep 2025
- 2025Visual and Semantic Prompt Collaboration for Generalized Zero-Shot Learning29 Mar 2025
- 2024Hyper-Representations: Learning from Populations of Neural Networks7 Oct 2024
- 2024Designing Time-Series Models With Hypernetworks & Adversarial Portfolios29 Jul 2024
- 2024Towards Scalable and Versatile Weight Space Learning14 Jun 2024
- 2024Diffusion-Based Neural Network Weights Generation28 Feb 2024
Similar, not cited
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- 2026Advanced Image Generation: Negative Prompt Optimization and Latent Classifier Guidance
- 2023Your Diffusion Model is Secretly a Zero-Shot Classifier
- 2023Text-to-Image Diffusion Models are Zero-Shot Classifiers
- 2023Exploring Compositional Visual Generation with Latent Classifier Guidance
- 2023End-to-End Diffusion Latent Optimization Improves Classifier Guidance
- 2024Plug-and-Play Diffusion Distillation
- 2023Meta ControlNet: Enhancing Task Adaptation via Meta Learning
- 2025Dynamic Classifier-Free Diffusion Guidance via Online Feedback