This paper describes a new computer program called JanusFlow that can both understand and create images. JanusFlow is special because it combines two different ways of working with images: one that's like reading a sentence word by word, and another that's like gradually turning a blurry picture into a clear one. This allows JanusFlow to be very good at both understanding what's in an image and making new images from descriptions. The researchers tested JanusFlow on different tasks, like answering questions about pictures and making images from written prompts, and found that it performs as well as or even better than other programs that are specifically designed for only one of those tasks. This means JanusFlow is a big step towards creating more efficient and versatile computer programs for working with images.

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2411.07975