Generative AI · advanced · concept 173 of 311 · Updated Nov 4, 2026
VAEs (Variational Autoencoders)
Generative models that learn a compressed latent space representation. Unlike GANs, VAEs can both generate AND encode data. The latent space is continuous, enabling smooth interpolation between outputs.
Top AI contributors on this
- Ian GoodfellowFormerly Google DeepMind
- Alec RadfordIndependent / Thinking Machines Lab (adviser)
- Mira MuratiThinking Machines Lab
- Alexandr ZhavoronkovInsilico Medicine
- Shakir MohamedGoogle DeepMind
Key terms
Latent spaceKL divergenceEncoderDecoderReparameterization
Learn these first
Videos
▶ What are Autoencoders? ↗
IBM Technology · YouTube
Guides and articles
CS236: Deep Generative Models ↗
Stanford
From Autoencoder to Beta-VAE | Lil'Log ↗
Lil'Log (OpenAI researcher)