# An effective potential for generative modelling with active matter

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.08146 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.08146/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Diffusion foundations and sampling, one of 14 directions in Diffusion models.
- Builds on 9 of its 20 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 11 Aug 2025.

## Placed in

- Diffusion models / [Diffusion foundations and sampling](https://mlsanity.com/diffusion/diffusion-foundations-and-sampling/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 9 of 9)

- [Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.11239/) (2020)
- [Score-Based Generative Modeling through Stochastic Differential Equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.13456/) (2020)
- [Deep Unsupervised Learning using Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1503.03585/) (2015)
- [Generative Modeling by Estimating Gradients of the Data Distribution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1907.05600/) (2019)
- [Assessing Generative Models via Precision and Recall](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1806.00035/) (2018)
- [Score-Based Generative Modeling with Critically-Damped Langevin Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.07068/) (2021)
- [Heavy-Tailed Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.14171/) (2024)
- [Generative modelling with jump-diffusions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.06558/) (2025)
- [Non-equilibrium active noise enhances generative memory in diffusion models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.07233/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Score-based diffusion models generate samples from a complex underlying data distribution by time-reversal of a diffusion process and represent the state-of-the-art in many generative AI applications. Here, I show how a generative diffusion model can be implemented based on an underlying active particle process with finite correlation time. Time reversal is achieved by imposing an effective time-dependent potential on the position coordinate, which can be readily implemented in simulations and experiments to generate new synthetic data samples driven by active fluctuations. The effective potential is valid to first order in the persistence time and leads to a force field that is fully determined by the standard score function and its derivatives up to 2nd order. Numerical experiments for artificial data distributions confirm the validity of the effective potential, which opens up new avenues to exploit fluctuations in active and living systems for generative AI purposes.