mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Editing Implicit Assumptions in Text-to-Image Diffusion Models

arXiv 2303.08084 ↗First posted 14 Mar 2023cs.CVcited by 128

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

Abstract (arXiv)

Text-to-image diffusion models often make implicit assumptions about the world when generating images. While some assumptions are useful (e.g., the sky is blue), they can also be outdated, incorrect, or reflective of social biases present in the training data. Thus, there is a need to control these assumptions without requiring explicit user input or costly re-training. In this work, we aim to edit a given implicit assumption in a pre-trained diffusion model. Our Text-to-Image Model Editing method, TIME for short, receives a pair of inputs: a "source" under-specified prompt for which the model makes an implicit assumption (e.g., "a pack of roses"), and a "destination" prompt that describes the same setting, but with a specified desired attribute (e.g., "a pack of blue roses"). TIME then updates the model's cross-attention layers, as these layers assign visual meaning to textual tokens. We edit the projection matrices in these layers such that the source prompt is projected close to the destination prompt. Our method is highly efficient, as it modifies a mere 2.2% of the model's parameters in under one second. To evaluate model editing approaches, we introduce TIMED (TIME Dataset), containing 147 source and destination prompt pairs from various domains. Our experiments (using Stable Diffusion) show that TIME is successful in model editing, generalizes well for related prompts unseen during editing, and imposes minimal effect on unrelated generations.

Key facts. Cited by 128 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 73 of its 80 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 14 Mar 2023.

Builds on

73 of 80 references.

Closest ancestors · 14

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2023Attend-and-Excite: Attention-Based Semantic Guidance for Text-to-Image Diffusion Models31 Jan
  2. 2022SINE: SINgle Image Editing with Text-to-Image Diffusion Models8 Dec
  3. 2022Multi-Concept Customization of Text-to-Image Diffusion8 Dec
  4. 2022Null-text Inversion for Editing Real Images using Guided Diffusion Models17 Nov
  5. 2022eDiff-I: Text-to-Image Diffusion Models with an Ensemble of Expert Denoisers2 Nov
  6. 2022DiffEdit: Diffusion-based semantic image editing with mask guidance20 Oct
  7. 2022Imagic: Text-Based Real Image Editing with Diffusion Models17 Oct
  8. 2022What the DAAM: Interpreting Stable Diffusion Using Cross Attention10 Oct
  9. 2022DreamBooth: Fine Tuning Text-to-Image Diffusion Models for Subject-Driven Generation25 Aug
  10. 2022Photorealistic Text-to-Image Diffusion Models with Deep Language Understanding23 May
  11. 2022Hierarchical Text-Conditional Image Generation with CLIP Latents13 Apr
  12. 2021GLIDE: Towards Photorealistic Image Generation and Editing with Text-Guided Diffusion Models20 Dec
2 more
  1. 2021Blended Diffusion for Text-driven Editing of Natural Images29 Nov
  2. 2021Palette: Image-to-Image Diffusion Models10 Nov

Other references · 59

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  1. 2022LAION-5B: An open large-scale dataset for training next generation image-text modelscited by 4,131
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  20. 2021Score-based Generative Modeling in Latent Spacecited by 634
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  22. 2021Editing Factual Knowledge in Language Modelscited by 548
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  32. 2020Modifying Memories in Transformer Modelscited by 222
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Citing papers per year: 2023: 21; 2024: 37; 2025: 37; 2026: 33.

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  2. 2023TIES-Merging: Resolving Interference When Merging Modelscited by 795
  3. 2023Unified Concept Editing in Diffusion Modelscited by 377
  4. 2023SVDiff: Compact Parameter Space for Diffusion Fine-Tuningcited by 338
  5. 2024MACE: Mass Concept Erasure in Diffusion Modelscited by 298
  6. 2023Concept Sliders: LoRA Adaptors for Precise Control in Diffusion Modelscited by 148
  7. 2024SAFREE: Training-Free and Adaptive Guard for Safe Text-to-Image And Video Generationcited by 125
  8. 2024Reliable and Efficient Concept Erasure of Text-to-Image Diffusion Modelscited by 123
  9. 2023Finetuning Text-to-Image Diffusion Models for Fairnesscited by 90
  10. 2023Improving Tuning-Free Real Image Editing with Proximal Guidancecited by 87
  11. 2023Circumventing Concept Erasure Methods For Text-to-Image Generative Modelscited by 81
  12. 2024Parameter Competition Balancing for Model Mergingcited by 71
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  1. 2023Self-Discovering Interpretable Diffusion Latent Directions for Responsible Text-to-Image Generationcited by 69
  2. 2024Survey of Bias In Text-to-Image Generation: Definition, Evaluation, and Mitigationcited by 66
  3. 2024ConceptPrune: Concept Editing in Diffusion Models via Skilled Neuron Pruningcited by 51
  4. 2024Direct Unlearning Optimization for Robust and Safe Text-to-Image Modelscited by 50
  5. 2024Erasing Undesirable Concepts in Diffusion Models with Adversarial Preservationcited by 48
  6. 2023DirecT2V: Large Language Models are Frame-Level Directors for Zero-Shot Text-to-Video Generationcited by 47
  7. 2024Adversarial Attacks and Defenses on Text-to-Image Diffusion Models: A Surveycited by 34
  8. 2025Fantastic Targets for Concept Erasure in Diffusion Models and Where To Find Themcited by 34
  9. 2025SPEED: Scalable, Precise, and Efficient Concept Erasure for Diffusion Modelscited by 33
  10. 2023ReFACT: Updating Text-to-Image Models by Editing the Text Encodercited by 32
  11. 2023Fair Text-to-Image Diffusion via Fair Mappingcited by 31
  12. 2023LEGO: Learning EGOcentric Action Frame Generation via Visual Instruction Tuningcited by 28
  13. 2024On Mechanistic Knowledge Localization in Text-to-Image Generative Modelscited by 27
  14. 2025Localized Concept Erasure for Text-to-Image Diffusion Models Using Training-Free Gated Low-Rank Adaptationcited by 27
  15. 2024Improving Geo-diversity of Generated Images with Contextualized Vendi Score Guidancecited by 24
  16. 2025CURE: Concept Unlearning via Orthogonal Representation Editing in Diffusion Modelscited by 24
  17. 2024Rethinking Training for De-biasing Text-to-Image Generation: Unlocking the Potential of Stable Diffusioncited by 22
  18. 2024The Crystal Ball Hypothesis in diffusion models: Anticipating object positions from initial noisecited by 18
  19. 2024AlignGuard: Scalable Safety Alignment for Text-to-Image Generationcited by 17
  20. 2023TP2O: Creative Text Pair-to-Object Generation using Balance Swap-Samplingcited by 16
  21. 2024DiffusionPID: Interpreting Diffusion via Partial Information Decompositioncited by 16
  22. 2025Concept Pinpoint Eraser for Text-to-image Diffusion Models via Residual Attention Gatecited by 16
  23. 2024Editing Massive Concepts in Text-to-Image Diffusion Modelscited by 15
  24. 2024Efficient Fine-Tuning and Concept Suppression for Pruned Diffusion Modelscited by 15
  25. 2023Kiki or Bouba? Sound Symbolism in Vision-and-Language Modelscited by 14
  26. 2025TRCE: Towards Reliable Malicious Concept Erasure in Text-to-Image Diffusion Modelscited by 14
  27. 2024Unleashing In-context Learning of Autoregressive Models for Few-shot Image Manipulationcited by 13
  28. 2025Generating an Image From 1,000 Words: Enhancing Text-to-Image With Structured Captionscited by 13
  29. 2024Doubly Abductive Counterfactual Inference for Text-based Image Editingcited by 12
  30. 2024Backdooring Bias (B2) into Stable Diffusion Modelscited by 12
  31. 2024Novel Object Synthesis via Adaptive Text-Image Harmonycited by 12
  32. 2025Erasing More Than Intended? How Concept Erasure Degrades the Generation of Non-Target Conceptscited by 12
  33. 2023Accelerating Text-to-Image Editing via Cache-Enabled Sparse Diffusion Inferencecited by 11
  34. 2024Replication in Visual Diffusion Models: A Survey and Outlookcited by 11
  35. 2024Unveiling Concept Attribution in Diffusion Modelscited by 11
  36. 2024MIST: Mitigating Intersectional Bias with Disentangled Cross-Attention Editing in Text-to-Image Diffusion Modelscited by 10
  37. 2024Social Perception of Faces in a Vision-Language Modelcited by 10
  38. 2025Visually Guided Decoding: Gradient-Free Hard Prompt Inversion with Language Modelscited by 10

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  5. 2023CONFORM: Contrast is All You Need For High-Fidelity Text-to-Image Diffusion Models
  6. 2025ACE: Concept Editing in Diffusion Models without Performance Degradation
  7. 2023Your Student is Better Than Expected: Adaptive Teacher-Student Collaboration for Text-Conditional Diffusion Models
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