# Neural Graph Generator: Feature-Conditioned Graph Generation using Latent Diffusion Models

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.01535 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.01535/

## Key facts

- Cited by 8 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Flow matching, time series and science, one of 14 directions in Diffusion models.
- Builds on 32 of its 42 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 3 Mar 2024.

## Placed in

- Diffusion models / [Flow matching, time series and science](https://mlsanity.com/diffusion/flow-matching-time-series-and-science/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 32)

- [Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.11239/) (2020)
- [High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.10752/) (2021)
- [Score-Based Generative Modeling through Stochastic Differential Equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.13456/) (2020)
- [Diffusion Models Beat GANs on Image Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.05233/) (2021)
- [Deep Unsupervised Learning using Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1503.03585/) (2015)
- [How Powerful are Graph Neural Networks?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.00826/) (2018)
- [Categorical Reparameterization with Gumbel-Softmax](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1611.01144/) (2016)
- [Align your Latents: High-Resolution Video Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.08818/) (2023)
- [Palette: Image-to-Image Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.05826/) (2021)
- [Equivariant Diffusion for Molecule Generation in 3D](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.17003/) (2022)
- [Junction Tree Variational Autoencoder for Molecular Graph Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.04364/) (2018)
- [DiGress: Discrete Denoising diffusion for graph generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.14734/) (2022)
- [GraphRNN: Generating Realistic Graphs with Deep Auto-regressive Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.08773/) (2018)
- [MolGAN: An implicit generative model for small molecular graphs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1805.11973/) (2018)
- [GraphVAE: Towards Generation of Small Graphs Using Variational Autoencoders](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.03480/) (2018)
- [Score-based Generative Modeling of Graphs via the System of Stochastic Differential Equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.02514/) (2022)
- [Exploring the Potential of Large Language Models (LLMs) in Learning on Graphs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.03393/) (2023)
- [Permutation Invariant Graph Generation via Score-Based Generative Modeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.00638/) (2020)
- [Learning Deep Generative Models of Graphs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.03324/) (2018)
- [Geometric Latent Diffusion Models for 3D Molecule Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.01140/) (2023)
- [MoFlow: An Invertible Flow Model for Generating Molecular Graphs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.10137/) (2020)
- [Multi-Objective De Novo Drug Design with Conditional Graph Generative Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.07299/) (2018)
- [Exploring Chemical Space with Score-based Out-of-distribution Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.07632/) (2022)
- [Efficient and Degree-Guided Graph Generation via Discrete Diffusion Modeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.04111/) (2023)
- [A Survey on Deep Graph Generation: Methods and Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.06714/) (2022)
- [NeVAE: A Deep Generative Model for Molecular Graphs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.05283/) (2018)
- [GraphGen: A Scalable Approach to Domain-agnostic Labeled Graph Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2001.08184/) (2020)
- [Generative Code Modeling with Graphs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1805.08490/) (2018)
- [Dirichlet Graph Variational Autoencoder](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.04408/) (2020)
- [A Latent Diffusion Model for Protein Structure Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.04120/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 8 of 8)

- [GOLD: Graph Out-of-Distribution Detection via Implicit Adversarial Latent Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.05780/) (2025)
- [Gen-C: Populating Virtual Worlds with Generative Crowds](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.01924/) (2025)
- [GUISE: Graph GaUssIan Shading watErmark](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.10178/) (2024)
- [GraphWeave: Interpretable and Robust Graph Generation via Random Walk Trajectories](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.17291/) (2025)
- [Mitigating topology biases in Graph Diffusion via Counterfactual Intervention](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.02005/) (2026)
- [Latent Flow Matching for Molecular Graph Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.06468/) (2026)
- [When Edge Independence Fails: Joint Graph Diffusion with Latent Sociability Priors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.13765/) (2026)
- [Your Discrete Graph Diffusion Model is Secretly Memorizing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.13786/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Graph generation has emerged as a crucial task in machine learning, with significant challenges in generating graphs that accurately reflect specific properties. Existing methods often fall short in efficiently addressing this need as they struggle with the high-dimensional complexity and varied nature of graph properties. In this paper, we introduce the Neural Graph Generator (NGG), a novel approach which utilizes conditioned latent diffusion models for graph generation. NGG demonstrates a remarkable capacity to model complex graph patterns, offering control over the graph generation process. NGG employs a variational graph autoencoder for graph compression and a diffusion process in the latent vector space, guided by vectors summarizing graph statistics. We demonstrate NGG's versatility across various graph generation tasks, showing its capability to capture desired graph properties and generalize to unseen graphs. We also compare our generator to the graph generation capabilities of different LLMs. This work signifies a shift in graph generation methodologies, offering a more practical and efficient solution for generating diverse graphs with specific characteristics.