Core Viewpoint - The article discusses the evolution of generative models in deep learning, drawing parallels to the revolutionary changes brought by AlexNet in recognition models, and posits that generative models may be on the brink of a similar breakthrough with the introduction of MeanFlow, which simplifies the generation process from multiple steps to a single step [1][2][35]. Group 1: Evolution of Recognition Models - Prior to AlexNet, layer-wise training was the dominant method for training recognition models, which involved optimizing each layer individually, leading to complex and cumbersome training processes [2][3]. - The introduction of AlexNet in 2012 marked a significant shift to end-to-end training, allowing the entire network to be trained simultaneously, greatly simplifying model design and improving performance [3][7]. Group 2: Current State of Generative Models - Generative models today resemble the pre-AlexNet era of recognition models, relying on multi-step reasoning processes, such as diffusion models and autoregressive models, which raises the question of whether they are in a similar "pre-AlexNet" phase [7][9]. - The article emphasizes the need for generative models to transition from multi-step reasoning to end-to-end generation to achieve a revolutionary breakthrough [7][35]. Group 3: Relationship Between Recognition and Generation - Recognition and generation can be viewed as two sides of the same coin, with recognition being an abstract process that extracts semantic information from data, while generation is a concrete process that transforms abstract representations into realistic data samples [13][15][16]. - The fundamental difference lies in the nature of the mapping: recognition has a deterministic mapping from data to labels, while generation involves a highly nonlinear mapping from noise to complex data distributions, presenting both opportunities and challenges [18][20]. Group 4: Flow Matching and Mean Flows - Flow matching is a key exploration direction for addressing the challenges faced by generative models, aiming to construct a flow field of data distributions to facilitate generation [20][22]. - Mean Flows, a recent method introduced by Kaiming, seeks to achieve one-step generation by replacing complex integral calculations with average velocity computations, significantly enhancing generation efficiency [24][27][29]. - In experiments, Mean Flows demonstrated impressive performance on ImageNet tasks, achieving a FID score of 3.43 with a single function evaluation, outperforming traditional multi-step models [31][32]. Group 5: Future Directions and Challenges - The article outlines several future research directions, including consistency models, two-time-variable models, and revisiting normalizing flows, while questioning whether generative models are still in the "pre-AlexNet" era [33][34]. - Despite the advancements made by Mean Flows, the challenge remains to identify a truly effective formula for end-to-end generative modeling, which is an exciting and open research question [34][35].

Core Viewpoint - The article discusses the evolution of generative models, particularly focusing on the transition from diffusion models to end-to-end generative modeling, highlighting the potential for generative models to replicate the historical advancements seen in recognition models [6][36][41]. Group 1: Workshop Insights - The workshop led by Kaiming He at CVPR focused on the evolution of visual generative modeling beyond diffusion models [5][7]. - Diffusion models have become the dominant method in visual generative modeling, but they face limitations such as slow generation speed and challenges in simulating complex distributions [6][36]. - Kaiming He's presentation emphasized the need for end-to-end generative modeling, contrasting it with the historical layer-wise training methods prevalent before AlexNet [10][11][41]. Group 2: Recognition vs. Generation - Recognition and generation can be viewed as two sides of the same coin, where recognition abstracts features from raw data, while generation concretizes abstract representations into detailed data [41][42]. - The article highlights the fundamental differences between recognition tasks, which have a clear mapping from data to labels, and generation tasks, which involve complex, non-linear mappings from simple distributions to intricate data distributions [58]. Group 3: Flow Matching and MeanFlow - Flow Matching is presented as a promising approach to address the challenges in generative modeling by constructing ground-truth fields that are independent of specific neural network architectures [81]. - The MeanFlow framework introduced by Kaiming He aims to achieve single-step generation tasks by modeling average velocity rather than instantaneous velocity, providing a theoretical basis for network training [83][84]. - Experimental results show that MeanFlow significantly outperforms previous single-step diffusion and flow models, achieving a FID score of 3.43, which is over 50% better than the previous best [101][108]. Group 4: Future Directions - The article concludes with a discussion on the ongoing research efforts in the field, including Consistency Models, Two-time-variable Models, and revisiting Normalizing Flows, indicating that the field is still in its early stages akin to the pre-AlexNet era in recognition models [110][113].