initial

Definition

The starting point from which a procedure updates: initial weights, initial policy, initial guess, initial release. It matters because outcomes in this field are frequently sensitive to it — a different initialization or a different starting policy can change results more than the method under study, which is why papers report multiple seeds. Distinct from the noun initials, meaning the first letters of a name.

Explainers using this term

• Paper walkthrough: Qwen-Drive-1.0 — bolting 3D perception and planning onto a VLM without touching its architectureQwen-Drive-1.0: An Initial Step towards a Vision-Language Foundation Model for Autonomous Driving