This course will explore the use of generative models in natural language processing. We will cover topics such as recurrent neural networks, variational autoencoders, and generative adversarial networks. We will discuss how these models can be used to generate text, understand language
Generative models are a class of computational models frequently used for classification. In machine learning, it typically models the joint distribution of inputs and outputs, such as P(X,Y), or it models how inputs are distributed within each class, such as P(X∣Y) together with a class prior P(Y). Because it describes a full data-generating process, a generative model can be used to draw new samples that resemble the observed data, a process often referred to as synthetic data generation. Generative models are used for density estimation, simulation, and learning with missing or partially labeled data. In classification, they can predict labels by combining P(X∣Y) and P(Y) and applying Bayes' rule. Generative models are often contrasted with discriminative models, which focus on predicting outputs from inputs directly.