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0 pointssharkjacobs1y ago0 comments

The point is that the metrics say the thing, this stuff doesn't say actually anything.

What does "state of the art" mean? That it's using the latest "cutting edge" model technology?

When Apple releases a new iPhone Pro Max, it's "state of the art". When they release a new iPhone SE, there's an argument to be made that it's not because it uses 2 year old chips. But what would it even mean for BFL to release a model which wasn't "state of the art"

> our most advanced and efficient model yet

Yes, likewise, this is how technology companies work. They release something and then the next thing they release is more advanced.

> a significant step forward in our mission to empower creators

Going from 12 seconds to 4 seconds is a significant speed boost, but does it move the needle on their mission to empower creators? These are their words, not mine, it's a technical achievement and impressive incremental progress, but are there users out there who are more empowered by this? significantly more empowered!?

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throwaway3141551y ago· 2 in thread

Holy shit the level of pedantry. State of the art in this context means it out performs all other models to date on standard evaluations, which is precisely what it does.

Did you miss the first flux release? Black forest labs aren't screwing around. The team consists of many of the _actual_ originators of Stable Diffusion's research (which was effectively co-opted by Emad Mostaque who is likely a sociopath).

sharkjacobsOP1y ago

> State of the art in this context means it out performs all other models to date on standard evaluations, which is precisely what it does.

That's not what "state of the art" means, and if it did it would still be hollow marketing jargon, because there are specific and meaningful ways to say that FLUX1.1 [pro] outperforms all competitors (and they do say so, later in the press release)

Your confusion about what "state of the art" means is exactly why marketers still use the phrase even though it has been overused and worn out since at least the 1980's. State of the art means something is "new", and that it is the "latest development", and that it incorporates "cutting edge" technology. The implication is that new is better, and that the "state of the art" is an improvement over what came before. (And to be clear, that's often true! Including in this case!) But that's not what the phrase actually means, it just means that something is new. And every press release is about something new.

FLUX1.1 [pro] would be state of the art even if it was worse than the previous version. Stable Diffusion 2.0 was state of the art when it was released.

throwaway3141551y ago

I said in this context for a reason. That's how state of the art has been used (in papers, not copy) with regard to deep learning since well before DALL-E 1. I maintain that you're being pedantic about appropriating a term of art to mean something else. Everyone else here knows what the meaning is in context. Just not you.

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