Data to 7 Oct 2026

Text-to-image Diffusion Models in Generative AI: A Survey

arXiv 2303.07909 ↗First posted 14 Mar 2023cs.CV cs.AI cs.LGcited by 264

On the map: Diffusion models → Image generation, text-to-image and editing

Abstract (arXiv)

This survey reviews the progress of diffusion models in generating images from text, ~textiti.e. text-to-image diffusion models. As a self-contained work, this survey starts with a brief introduction of how diffusion models work for image synthesis, followed by the background for text-conditioned image synthesis. Based on that, we present an organized review of pioneering methods and their improvements on text-to-image generation. We further summarize applications beyond image generation, such as text-guided generation for various modalities like videos, and text-guided image editing. Beyond the progress made so far, we discuss existing challenges and promising future directions.

Key facts. Cited by 264 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in Image generation, text-to-image and editing, one of 14 directions in Diffusion models. Builds on 122 of its 151 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 14 Mar 2023.

Builds on

122 of 151 references.

Closest ancestors · 33

Same direction, newest first

21 more

Other references · 89

2017Attention Is All You Needcited by 59,932
2018BERT: Pre-training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language Understandingcited by 40,204
2021Learning Transferable Visual Models From Natural Language Supervisioncited by 33,456
2020Language Models are Few-Shot Learnerscited by 32,199
2020Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Modelscited by 20,851
2021High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Modelscited by 18,694
2019Exploring the Limits of Transfer Learning with a Unified Text-to-Text Transformercited by 14,491
2020Denoising Diffusion Implicit Modelscited by 9,655
2020Score-Based Generative Modeling through Stochastic Differential Equationscited by 8,964
2021Diffusion Models Beat GANs on Image Synthesiscited by 8,185
2015Deep Unsupervised Learning using Nonequilibrium Thermodynamicscited by 7,005
2018A Style-Based Generator Architecture for Generative Adversarial Networkscited by 5,986

38 more

2022Classifier-Free Diffusion Guidancecited by 5,717
2021Zero-Shot Text-to-Image Generationcited by 4,276
2019Generative Modeling by Estimating Gradients of the Data Distributioncited by 4,067
2021Scaling Up Visual and Vision-Language Representation Learning With Noisy Text Supervisioncited by 3,848
2019Analyzing and Improving the Image Quality of StyleGANcited by 3,580
2020Taming Transformers for High-Resolution Image Synthesiscited by 3,229
2022DreamFusion: Text-to-3D using 2D Diffusioncited by 3,006
2016Improved Techniques for Training GANscited by 2,938
2018Large Scale GAN Training for High Fidelity Natural Image Synthesiscited by 2,609
2022Prompt-to-Prompt Image Editing with Cross Attention Controlcited by 2,409
2021CLIPScore: A Reference-free Evaluation Metric for Image Captioningcited by 2,388
2022Video Diffusion Modelscited by 2,280
2022An Image is Worth One Word: Personalizing Text-to-Image Generation using Textual Inversioncited by 2,231
2014Conditional Generative Adversarial Netscited by 2,152
2020REALM: Retrieval-Augmented Language Model Pre-Trainingcited by 2,126
2022Imagen Video: High Definition Video Generation with Diffusion Modelscited by 1,765
2022Make-A-Video: Text-to-Video Generation without Text-Video Datacited by 1,725
2022Scaling Autoregressive Models for Content-Rich Text-to-Image Generationcited by 1,287
2022Magic3D: High-Resolution Text-to-3D Content Creationcited by 1,285
2021Improving language models by retrieving from trillions of tokenscited by 1,278
2021Efficient Geometry-aware 3D Generative Adversarial Networkscited by 1,204
2021Alias-Free Generative Adversarial Networkscited by 1,181
2022Diffusion Models: A Comprehensive Survey of Methods and Applicationscited by 1,107
2020Improved Techniques for Training Score-Based Generative Modelscited by 1,036
2022Diffusion Models in Vision: A Surveycited by 1,008
2022Plug-and-Play Diffusion Features for Text-Driven Image-to-Image Translationcited by 897
2021Florence: A New Foundation Model for Computer Visioncited by 802
2019Generalization through Memorization: Nearest Neighbor Language Modelscited by 788
2021Vector Quantized Diffusion Model for Text-to-Image Synthesiscited by 773
2016Generative Adversarial Text to Image Synthesiscited by 735
2020Encoding in Style: a StyleGAN Encoder for Image-to-Image Translationcited by 727
2021CogView: Mastering Text-to-Image Generation via Transformerscited by 691
2017AttnGAN: Fine-Grained Text to Image Generation with Attentional Generative Adversarial Networkscited by 664
2016StackGAN: Text to Photo-realistic Image Synthesis with Stacked Generative Adversarial Networkscited by 575
2016Conditional Image Synthesis With Auxiliary Classifier GANscited by 562
2021Designing an Encoder for StyleGAN Image Manipulationcited by 542
2021Zero-Shot Text-Guided Object Generation with Dream Fieldscited by 513
2022Safe Latent Diffusion: Mitigating Inappropriate Degeneration in Diffusion Modelscited by 501

50 most cited of 89 All 89 (JSON)

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2023: 59; 2024: 100; 2025: 80; 2026: 25.

264 papers.

Sort:

By area:

2023Learning Interactive Real-World Simulatorscited by 440
2023Generative Novel View Synthesis with 3D-Aware Diffusion Modelscited by 273
2023Multimodal Foundation Models: From Specialists to General-Purpose Assistantscited by 247
2024Diffusion Model-Based Image Editing: A Surveycited by 212
2023A Survey on Video Diffusion Modelscited by 203
2025WISE: A World Knowledge-Informed Semantic Evaluation for Text-to-Image Generationcited by 196
2024An Introduction to Vision-Language Modelingcited by 175
2023Holistic Evaluation of Text-To-Image Modelscited by 160
2023AGIQA-3K: An Open Database for AI-Generated Image Quality Assessmentcited by 142
2023Rich Human Feedback for Text-to-Image Generationcited by 139
2023SweetDreamer: Aligning Geometric Priors in 2D Diffusion for Consistent Text-to-3Dcited by 134
2023Foundational Models Defining a New Era in Vision: A Survey and Outlookcited by 109

38 more

2023Navigating Text-To-Image Customization: From LyCORIS Fine-Tuning to Model Evaluationcited by 108
2024SIDA: Social Media Image Deepfake Detection, Localization and Explanation with Large Multimodal Modelcited by 107
2023Toward General-Purpose Robots via Foundation Models: A Survey and Meta-Analysiscited by 99
2024Controllable Generation with Text-to-Image Diffusion Models: A Surveycited by 82
2024Diffusion Models in Low-Level Vision: A Surveycited by 73
2023A Survey on Audio Diffusion Models: Text To Speech Synthesis and Enhancement in Generative AIcited by 68
2023A Comprehensive Survey on Segment Anything Model for Vision and Beyondcited by 64
2023GenerateCT: Text-Conditional Generation of 3D Chest CT Volumescited by 64
2023Toward effective protection against diffusion based mimicry through score distillationcited by 64
2023The Chosen One: Consistent Characters in Text-to-Image Diffusion Modelscited by 62
2023Generative AI meets 3D: A Survey on Text-to-3D in AIGC Eracited by 61
2023On the Design Fundamentals of Diffusion Models: A Surveycited by 59
2024Rethinking the Spatial Inconsistency in Classifier-Free Diffusion Guidancecited by 58
2023Enhancing Deep Reinforcement Learning: A Tutorial on Generative Diffusion Models in Network Optimizationcited by 56
2024A Comprehensive Survey of Foundation Models in Medicinecited by 56
2024Any-Resolution AI-Generated Image Detection by Spectral Learningcited by 56
2023One Small Step for Generative AI, One Giant Leap for AGI: A Complete Survey on ChatGPT in AIGC Eracited by 55
2023Towards Understanding the Interplay of Generative Artificial Intelligence and the Internetcited by 54
2024Sora as a World Model? A Complete Survey on Text-to-Video Generationcited by 53
2023Reuse and Diffuse: Iterative Denoising for Text-to-Video Generationcited by 49
2023Customizing 360-Degree Panoramas through Text-to-Image Diffusion Modelscited by 47
2025Text2Earth: Unlocking Text-driven Remote Sensing Image Generation with a Global-Scale Dataset and a Foundation Modelcited by 46
2024Diffusion Model-Based Video Editing: A Surveycited by 44
2023Personalization as a Shortcut for Few-Shot Backdoor Attack against Text-to-Image Diffusion Modelscited by 42
2023FinDiff: Diffusion Models for Financial Tabular Data Generationcited by 41
2024Are LLMs Ready for Real-World Materials Discovery?cited by 40
2024When Large Language Models Meet Vector Databases: A Surveycited by 39
2024Infinite-ID: Identity-preserved Personalization via ID-semantics Decoupling Paradigmcited by 38
2024Perception-guided Jailbreak against Text-to-Image Modelscited by 37
2024StableIdentity: Inserting Anybody into Anywhere at First Sightcited by 35
2024LLMs Meet Multimodal Generation and Editing: A Surveycited by 35
2024Anim-Director: A Large Multimodal Model Powered Agent for Controllable Animation Video Generationcited by 35
2023A Survey on Graph Diffusion Models: Generative AI in Science for Molecule, Protein and Materialcited by 34
2023Segment Anything Model (SAM) Meets Glass: Mirror and Transparent Objects Cannot Be Easily Detectedcited by 34
2024Adversarial Attacks and Defenses on Text-to-Image Diffusion Models: A Surveycited by 34
2024HeadStudio: Text to Animatable Head Avatars with 3D Gaussian Splattingcited by 33
2024Make-Your-3D: Fast and Consistent Subject-Driven 3D Content Generationcited by 32
2023Divide, Evaluate, and Refine: Evaluating and Improving Text-to-Image Alignment with Iterative VQA Feedbackcited by 31

50 most cited of 264 All 264 (JSON)

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way