latent

Definition

Describes variables or representations that are not directly observed but inferred inside the model. Compressing inputs into a lower-dimensional latent space makes generation, retrieval, and interpolation far cheaper, which is why latent diffusion and variational autoencoders are built around it. The word always points at the intermediate state between visible input and visible output.

Explainers using this term

• Paper Explained: LIT — Stopping Robots from Cheating on Visual Cues by Giving Vision a Single DoorwayBreaking the Vision-Action Shortcut: Latent Interface Training for Generalizable Robotics Foundation Models
• Paper Explained: Reason Through the Latent! — Visual information being in a latent state doesn't mean the answer uses itReason Through the Latent! Making Latent Visual Reasoning Necessary
• Paper Walkthrough — Beyond Retrieval: LatentStream Turns Retrieved Video Into Latent MemoryBeyond Retrieval: Progressive Latent Memory Evolution for Streaming Video Understanding