CFG-Ctrl: Control-Based Classifier-Free Diffusion Guidance

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Wang, Hanyang, Liu, Yiyang, Chi, Jiawei, Liu, Fangfu, Xue, Ran, Duan, Yueqi
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
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author Wang, Hanyang
Liu, Yiyang
Chi, Jiawei
Liu, Fangfu
Xue, Ran
Duan, Yueqi
author_facet Wang, Hanyang
Liu, Yiyang
Chi, Jiawei
Liu, Fangfu
Xue, Ran
Duan, Yueqi
contents Classifier-Free Guidance (CFG) has emerged as a central approach for enhancing semantic alignment in flow-based diffusion models. In this paper, we explore a unified framework called CFG-Ctrl, which reinterprets CFG as a control applied to the first-order continuous-time generative flow, using the conditional-unconditional discrepancy as an error signal to adjust the velocity field. From this perspective, we summarize vanilla CFG as a proportional controller (P-control) with fixed gain, and typical follow-up variants develop extended control-law designs derived from it. However, existing methods mainly rely on linear control, inherently leading to instability, overshooting, and degraded semantic fidelity especially on large guidance scales. To address this, we introduce Sliding Mode Control CFG (SMC-CFG), which enforces the generative flow toward a rapidly convergent sliding manifold. Specifically, we define an exponential sliding mode surface over the semantic prediction error and introduce a switching control term to establish nonlinear feedback-guided correction. Moreover, we provide a Lyapunov stability analysis to theoretically support finite-time convergence. Experiments across text-to-image generation models including Stable Diffusion 3.5, Flux, and Qwen-Image demonstrate that SMC-CFG outperforms standard CFG in semantic alignment and enhances robustness across a wide range of guidance scales. Project Page: https://hanyang-21.github.io/CFG-Ctrl
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_03281
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle CFG-Ctrl: Control-Based Classifier-Free Diffusion Guidance
Wang, Hanyang
Liu, Yiyang
Chi, Jiawei
Liu, Fangfu
Xue, Ran
Duan, Yueqi
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Machine Learning
Classifier-Free Guidance (CFG) has emerged as a central approach for enhancing semantic alignment in flow-based diffusion models. In this paper, we explore a unified framework called CFG-Ctrl, which reinterprets CFG as a control applied to the first-order continuous-time generative flow, using the conditional-unconditional discrepancy as an error signal to adjust the velocity field. From this perspective, we summarize vanilla CFG as a proportional controller (P-control) with fixed gain, and typical follow-up variants develop extended control-law designs derived from it. However, existing methods mainly rely on linear control, inherently leading to instability, overshooting, and degraded semantic fidelity especially on large guidance scales. To address this, we introduce Sliding Mode Control CFG (SMC-CFG), which enforces the generative flow toward a rapidly convergent sliding manifold. Specifically, we define an exponential sliding mode surface over the semantic prediction error and introduce a switching control term to establish nonlinear feedback-guided correction. Moreover, we provide a Lyapunov stability analysis to theoretically support finite-time convergence. Experiments across text-to-image generation models including Stable Diffusion 3.5, Flux, and Qwen-Image demonstrate that SMC-CFG outperforms standard CFG in semantic alignment and enhances robustness across a wide range of guidance scales. Project Page: https://hanyang-21.github.io/CFG-Ctrl
title CFG-Ctrl: Control-Based Classifier-Free Diffusion Guidance
topic Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.03281