mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Beyond Autoregression: Discrete Diffusion for Complex Reasoning and Planning

arXiv 2410.14157 ↗First posted 18 Oct 2024cs.CL cs.LGcited by 135

On the map: LLM reasoning → Diffusion reasoning and test-time scaling

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Abstract (arXiv)

Autoregressive language models, despite their impressive capabilities, struggle with complex reasoning and long-term planning tasks. We introduce discrete diffusion models as a novel solution to these challenges. Through the lens of subgoal imbalance, we demonstrate how diffusion models effectively learn difficult subgoals that elude autoregressive approaches. We propose Multi-Granularity Diffusion Modeling (MGDM), which prioritizes subgoals based on difficulty during learning. On complex tasks like Countdown, Sudoku, and Boolean Satisfiability Problems, MGDM significantly outperforms autoregressive models without using search techniques. For instance, MGDM achieves 91.5% and 100% accuracy on Countdown and Sudoku, respectively, compared to 45.8% and 20.7% for autoregressive models. Our work highlights the potential of diffusion-based approaches in advancing AI capabilities for sophisticated language understanding and problem-solving tasks. All associated codes are available at hrefhttps://github.com/HKUNLP/diffusion-vs-arhttps://github.com/HKUNLP/diffusion-vs-ar.

Key facts. Cited by 135 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in Diffusion reasoning and test-time scaling, one of 17 directions in LLM reasoning. Builds on 83 of its 103 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 18 Oct 2024.

Builds on

83 of 103 references.

Closest ancestors · 1

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2024Diffusion of Thoughts: Chain-of-Thought Reasoning in Diffusion Language Models12 Feb

Other references · 82

  1. 2018BERT: Pre-training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language Understandingcited by 40,204
  2. 2020Language Models are Few-Shot Learnerscited by 32,199
  3. 2020Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Modelscited by 20,851
  4. 2021High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Modelscited by 18,694
  5. 2023GPT-4 Technical Reportcited by 18,132
  6. 2023LLaMA: Open and Efficient Foundation Language Modelscited by 13,958
  7. 2022Chain-of-Thought Prompting Elicits Reasoning in Large Language Modelscited by 12,302
  8. 2022ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Modelscited by 8,355
  9. 2021Diffusion Models Beat GANs on Image Synthesiscited by 8,185
  10. 2015Deep Unsupervised Learning using Nonequilibrium Thermodynamicscited by 7,005
  11. 2020Scaling Laws for Neural Language Modelscited by 6,411
  12. 2022Scalable Diffusion Models with Transformerscited by 5,931
38 more
  1. 2022Self-Consistency Improves Chain of Thought Reasoning in Language Modelscited by 5,601
  2. 2019Generative Modeling by Estimating Gradients of the Data Distributioncited by 4,067
  3. 2023Reflexion: Language Agents with Verbal Reinforcement Learningcited by 4,064
  4. 2023Qwen Technical Reportcited by 3,273
  5. 2023Tree of Thoughts: Deliberate Problem Solving with Large Language Modelscited by 3,155
  6. 2023Mistral 7Bcited by 3,065
  7. 2019XLNet: Generalized Autoregressive Pretraining for Language Understandingcited by 2,801
  8. 2023Diffusion Policy: Visuomotor Policy Learning via Action Diffusioncited by 2,730
  9. 2023Sparks of Artificial General Intelligence: Early experiments with GPT-4cited by 2,579
  10. 2022Emergent Abilities of Large Language Modelscited by 2,483
  11. 2022Video Diffusion Modelscited by 2,280
  12. 2021Structured Denoising Diffusion Models in Discrete State-Spacescited by 1,665
  13. 2021Variational Diffusion Modelscited by 1,145
  14. 2022Planning with Diffusion for Flexible Behavior Synthesiscited by 1,023
  15. 2022Diffusion-LM Improves Controllable Text Generationcited by 1,006
  16. 2022Tune-A-Video: One-Shot Tuning of Image Diffusion Models for Text-to-Video Generationcited by 958
  17. 2023Graph of Thoughts: Solving Elaborate Problems with Large Language Modelscited by 873
  18. 2024Simple and Effective Masked Diffusion Language Modelscited by 800
  19. 2022Equivariant Diffusion for Molecule Generation in 3Dcited by 666
  20. 2024Simplified and Generalized Masked Diffusion for Discrete Datacited by 606
  21. 2021Argmax Flows and Multinomial Diffusion: Learning Categorical Distributionscited by 566
  22. 2022GeoDiff: a Geometric Diffusion Model for Molecular Conformation Generationcited by 511
  23. 2022Is Conditional Generative Modeling all you need for Decision-Making?cited by 504
  24. 2023Faith and Fate: Limits of Transformers on Compositionalitycited by 496
  25. 2017Non-Autoregressive Neural Machine Translationcited by 457
  26. 2022DiffuSeq: Sequence to Sequence Text Generation with Diffusion Modelscited by 439
  27. 2022A Continuous Time Framework for Discrete Denoising Modelscited by 437
  28. 2022PlanBench: An Extensible Benchmark for Evaluating Large Language Models on Planning and Reasoning about Changecited by 372
  29. 2022Analog Bits: Generating Discrete Data using Diffusion Models with Self-Conditioningcited by 362
  30. 2024Better & Faster Large Language Models via Multi-token Predictioncited by 344
  31. 2023On the Planning Abilities of Large Language Models : A Critical Investigationcited by 308
  32. 2022DiffDock: Diffusion Steps, Twists, and Turns for Molecular Dockingcited by 307
  33. 2022Autoformalization with Large Language Modelscited by 252
  34. 2022Efficient Training of Language Models to Fill in the Middlecited by 248
  35. 2020ProphetNet: Predicting Future N-gram for Sequence-to-Sequence Pre-trainingcited by 221
  36. 2021Autoregressive Diffusion Modelscited by 208
  37. 2022Continuous diffusion for categorical datacited by 202
  38. 2019Levenshtein Transformercited by 197

50 most cited of 82 All 82 (JSON)

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Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2024: 2; 2025: 67; 2026: 66.

135 papers.

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  1. 2025Dream 7B: Diffusion Large Language Modelscited by 515
  2. 2025Train for the Worst, Plan for the Best: Understanding Token Ordering in Masked Diffusionscited by 208
  3. 2025DiffuCoder: Understanding and Improving Masked Diffusion Models for Code Generationcited by 184
  4. 2025d1: Scaling Reasoning in Diffusion Large Language Models via Reinforcement Learningcited by 178
  5. 2025Accelerated Sampling from Masked Diffusion Models via Entropy Bounded Unmaskingcited by 128
  6. 2025SDAR: A Synergistic Diffusion-AutoRegression Paradigm for Scalable Sequence Generationcited by 118
  7. 2025Dimple: Discrete Diffusion Multimodal Large Language Model with Parallel Decodingcited by 101
  8. 2024Large Concept Models: Language Modeling in a Sentence Representation Spacecited by 86
  9. 2025Dream-Coder 7B: An Open Diffusion Language Model for Codecited by 81
  10. 2025A Survey on Diffusion Language Modelscited by 75
  11. 2025A Survey on Latent Reasoningcited by 71
  12. 2025Generalized Interpolating Discrete Diffusioncited by 68
38 more
  1. 2025Discrete Diffusion in Large Language and Multimodal Models: A Surveycited by 61
  2. 2025Any-Order Flexible Length Masked Diffusioncited by 48
  3. 2026A Survey of Agentic Reasoning for Large Language Models: Towards Recursively Self-Improving and Collective Agentscited by 47
  4. 2025FUDOKI: Discrete Flow-based Unified Understanding and Generation via Kinetic-Optimal Velocitiescited by 46
  5. 2025KLASS: KL-Guided Fast Inference in Masked Diffusion Modelscited by 44
  6. 2025ParallelBench: Understanding the Trade-offs of Parallel Decoding in Diffusion LLMscited by 42
  7. 2025Generative Trajectory Stitching through Diffusion Compositioncited by 38
  8. 2025LongLLaDA: Unlocking Long Context Capabilities in Diffusion LLMscited by 38
  9. 2025Plan for Speed: Dilated Scheduling for Masked Diffusion Language Modelscited by 34
  10. 2025Improving Reasoning for Diffusion Language Models via Group Diffusion Policy Optimizationcited by 30
  11. 2025Next-Latent Prediction Transformers Learn Compact World Modelscited by 29
  12. 2025Roll the dice & look before you leap: Going beyond the creative limits of next-token predictioncited by 28
  13. 2025Coevolutionary Continuous Discrete Diffusion: Make Your Diffusion Language Model a Latent Reasonercited by 28
  14. 2025A Survey on Parallel Text Generation: From Parallel Decoding to Diffusion Language Modelscited by 27
  15. 2025LaDiR: Latent Diffusion Enhances LLMs for Text Reasoningcited by 25
  16. 2025Cosmos: Compressed and Smooth Latent Space for Text Diffusion Modelingcited by 24
  17. 2025Sudoku-Bench: Evaluating creative reasoning with Sudoku variantscited by 21
  18. 2025Adaptive Classifier-Free Guidance via Dynamic Low-Confidence Maskingcited by 21
  19. 2025Empirical Analysis of Decoding Biases in Masked Diffusion Modelscited by 19
  20. 2025Attention Sinks in Diffusion Language Modelscited by 18
  21. 2025Dream-VL & Dream-VLA: Open Vision-Language and Vision-Language-Action Models with Diffusion Language Model Backbonecited by 18
  22. 2025Constrained Discrete Diffusioncited by 16
  23. 2025Lookahead Unmasking Elicits Accurate Decoding in Diffusion Language Modelscited by 15
  24. 2025Saber: An Efficient Sampling with Adaptive Acceleration and Backtracking Enhanced Remasking for Diffusion Language Modelcited by 13
  25. 2025Parallel Sampling from Masked Diffusion Models via Conditional Independence Testingcited by 13
  26. 2025Neurosymbolic Diffusion Modelscited by 12
  27. 2025SDAR-VL: Stable and Efficient Block-wise Diffusion for Vision-Language Understandingcited by 12
  28. 2026Continuous Latent Diffusion Language Modelcited by 12
  29. 2026Improved Large Language Diffusion Modelscited by 12
  30. 2025Implicit Search via Discrete Diffusion: A Study on Chesscited by 11
  31. 2025Insertion Language Models: Sequence Generation with Arbitrary-Position Insertionscited by 11
  32. 2026Uniform Diffusion Models Revisited: Leave-One-Out Denoiser and Absorbing State Reformulationcited by 11
  33. 2025Rainbow Padding: Mitigating Early Termination in Instruction-Tuned Diffusion LLMscited by 10
  34. 2025Fast-Decoding Diffusion Language Models via Progress-Aware Confidence Schedulescited by 10
  35. 2026Where-to-Unmask: Ground-Truth-Guided Unmasking Order Learning for Masked Diffusion Language Modelscited by 9
  36. 2025Fast and Fluent Diffusion Language Models via Convolutional Decoding and Rejective Fine-tuningcited by 8
  37. 2026CD4LM: Consistency Distillation and aDaptive Decoding for Diffusion Language Modelscited by 8
  38. 2026Parallelism and Generation Order in Masked Diffusion Language Models: Limits Today, Potential Tomorrowcited by 8

50 most cited of 135 All 135 (JSON)

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  1. 2024Beyond Autoregression: Fast LLMs via Self-Distillation Through Time
  2. 2024Promises, Outlooks and Challenges of Diffusion Language Modeling
  3. 2026Scaling Beyond Masked Diffusion Language Models
  4. 2025Diffusion Beats Autoregressive in Data-Constrained Settings
  5. 2026On the Trainability of Masked Diffusion Language Models via Blockwise Locality
  6. 2023Diffusion Language Models Can Perform Many Tasks with Scaling and Instruction-Finetuning
  7. 2026A Comparative analysis of Layer-wise Representational Capacity in AR and Diffusion LLMs
  8. 2026Efficient Reasoning with Flow Language Models