Welling: Diffusion Models Share Exact Mathematics With Non-Equilibrium Stochastic Thermodynamics
Max Welling · 🔬Max Welling: Materials Underlie Everything · Feb 25, 2026 · at 4:59
AI researcher and physicist Max Welling explains the deep theoretical links between machine learning architectures and non-equilibrium physics.
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“It turns out that the mathematics that we use for diffusion models, but even for reinforcement learning, for Schrodinger bridges, for MCMC sampling, has the same mathematics as this theory, this physical theory of non-equilibrium Systems.”
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