mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Discrete Flow Maps

arXiv 2604.09784 ↗First posted 10 Apr 2026stat.ML cs.LGcited by 23

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Abstract (arXiv)

The sequential nature of autoregressive next-token prediction imposes a fundamental speed limit on large language models. While continuous flow models offer a path to parallel generation, they traditionally demand expensive iterative integration. Flow Maps bypass this bottleneck by compressing generative trajectories into single-step mappings, theoretically enabling the generation of full text sequences from noise in a single forward pass. However, standard formulations rely on Euclidean regression losses that are geometrically ill-suited for discrete data. In this work, we resolve this conflict with Discrete Flow Maps, a framework that reconciles trajectory compression with the geometry of the probability simplex. We recast standard flow map training for the discrete domain, aligning the training dynamics with the discrete nature of language. Empirically, this strict geometric alignment allows our method to surpass previous state-of-the-art results in discrete flow modeling.

Key facts. Cited by 23 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 38 of its 46 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 10 Apr 2026.

Builds on

38 of 46 references.

References · 38

  1. 2017Attention Is All You Needcited by 59,932
  2. 2014Adam: A Method for Stochastic Optimizationcited by 36,960
  3. 2020Language Models are Few-Shot Learnerscited by 32,199
  4. 2020Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Modelscited by 20,851
  5. 2020Score-Based Generative Modeling through Stochastic Differential Equationscited by 8,964
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  7. 2022PaLM: Scaling Language Modeling with Pathwayscited by 5,304
  8. 2022Flow Straight and Fast: Learning to Generate and Transfer Data with Rectified Flowcited by 3,550
  9. 2021Structured Denoising Diffusion Models in Discrete State-Spacescited by 1,665
  10. 2022Fast Inference from Transformers via Speculative Decodingcited by 1,615
  11. 2022Diffusion Posterior Sampling for General Noisy Inverse Problemscited by 1,375
  12. 2020Gradient Surgery for Multi-Task Learningcited by 1,210
26 more
  1. 2022Diffusion-LM Improves Controllable Text Generationcited by 1,006
  2. 2022Building Normalizing Flows with Stochastic Interpolantscited by 964
  3. 2023Discrete Diffusion Modeling by Estimating the Ratios of the Data Distributioncited by 712
  4. 2024Simplified and Generalized Masked Diffusion for Discrete Datacited by 606
  5. 2025Mean Flows for One-step Generative Modelingcited by 524
  6. 2023Consistency Trajectory Models: Learning Probability Flow ODE Trajectory of Diffusioncited by 448
  7. 2022A Continuous Time Framework for Discrete Denoising Modelscited by 437
  8. 2024Better & Faster Large Language Models via Multi-token Predictioncited by 344
  9. 2013One Billion Word Benchmark for Measuring Progress in Statistical Language Modelingcited by 302
  10. 2022Continuous diffusion for categorical datacited by 202
  11. 2025A General Framework for Inference-time Scaling and Steering of Diffusion Modelscited by 201
  12. 2024Dirichlet Flow Matching with Applications to DNA Sequence Designcited by 110
  13. 2025Improved Mean Flows: On the Challenges of Fastforward Generative Modelscited by 102
  14. 2024Flow map matching with stochastic interpolants: A mathematical framework for consistency modelscited by 99
  15. 2025How to build a consistency model: Learning flow maps via self-distillationcited by 96
  16. 2025Inference-Time Alignment in Diffusion Models with Reward-Guided Generation: Tutorial and Reviewcited by 82
  17. 2025Align Your Flow: Scaling Continuous-Time Flow Map Distillationcited by 81
  18. 2024Variational Flow Matching for Graph Generationcited by 78
  19. 2024Beyond Autoregression: Fast LLMs via Self-Distillation Through Timecited by 73
  20. 2024Fisher Flow Matching for Generative Modeling over Discrete Datacited by 68
  21. 2024Flow Matching with General Discrete Paths: A Kinetic-Optimal Perspectivecited by 54
  22. 2026Flow Map Language Models: One-step Language Modeling via Continuous Denoisingcited by 49
  23. 2024Distillation of Discrete Diffusion through Dimensional Correlationscited by 46
  24. 2026Categorical Flow Mapscited by 37
  25. 2025CANDI: Hybrid Discrete-Continuous Diffusion Modelscited by 31
  26. 2025Diffusion Models without Classifier-free Guidancecited by 28

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Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2026: 23.

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  1. 2026ELF: Embedded Language Flowscited by 27
  2. 2026Continuous Diffusion Scales Competitively with Discrete Diffusion for Languagecited by 13
  3. 2026Self-conditioned Flow Map Language Models via Fixed-point Flowscited by 9
  4. 2026How to Train Your Latent Diffusion Language Model Jointly With the Latent Spacecited by 8
  5. 2026Scaling Categorical Flow Mapscited by 6
  6. 2026Hacking Generative Perplexity: Why Unconditional Text Evaluation Needs Distributional Metricscited by 6
  7. 2026Flow Reasoning Models: Turning Flows Into Efficient Recurrent Reasonerscited by 5
  8. 2026Contrastive Distribution Matching for Amortized Sequential Monte Carlo in Discrete Diffusioncited by 3
  9. 2026Discrete Beckmann Transport Models for One-Step Language Modeling and Reasoningcited by 3
  10. 2026ConvergeFlow: Language Flow with Provable Convergence to Token Embeddingscited by 2
  11. 2026Distilled Continuous Diffusion Language Models Can Write Code in Few Steps---or Onecited by 2
  12. 2026Few-step Cofolding with All-Atom Flow Mapscited by 1
11 more
  1. 2026Simplex Diffusion Modelscited by 1
  2. 2026Sampling from Flow Language Models via Marginal-Conditioned Bridgescited by 0
  3. 2026Drifting Objectives for Refining Discrete Diffusion Language Modelscited by 0
  4. 2026From Interface to Inference: Eliciting Any-Order Inference from Any-Order Modelscited by 0
  5. 2026How I learned to stop worrying and love StopGrads: Stationarity, Convergence, and a case study on Flow Map Learningcited by 0
  6. 2026Stochastic Flow Map for Count Datacited by 0
  7. 2026WTF?! Simulation-Free Reinforcement Learning with Wasserstein-Tilted Flow Mapscited by 0
  8. 2026Acceleration of Diffusion Language Model through Discrete Average Generatorcited by 0
  9. 2026Distribution Matching Distillation for Continuous Diffusion Language Modelscited by 0
  10. 2026Gumbel Straight Flow: Distilling Autoregressive Models into One-step Flow Mapscited by 0
  11. 2026Clock Diffusion: Efficient Semi-Autoregressive Continuous Diffusion Language Modelscited by 0