Yandex unveiled its new neural network YandexART, it is designed to create images and animations

Yandex introduced YandexART (Yandex AI Rendering Technology), a diffusion neural network that generates images and animations based on users' text queries. YandexART understands Russian cultural references, including famous places and cities in Russia, prominent figures from different eras and familiar characters from cartoons and fairy tales, such as Cheburashka, bogatyrs and Baba Yaga. The neural network has already been integrated into the Masterpiece app, where it helps illustrate advertisements in Yandex.Business, and will soon be available in Yandex.Keyboard and other services of the company.

YandexART creates images and animations using a cascading diffusion method. First, the neural network generates images and frames according to the user's request, and then gradually increases their resolution, enriching them with details. Compared to the previous generation of diffusion models used in Masterpiece, YandexART creates more realistic and detailed graphics. According to Yandex internal experts, YandexART results are better in 60% cases.

To improve the performance of the neural network, the developers decided to increase the size of the training dataset by 1.5 times, reaching 330 million pictures with text descriptions. When selecting images for YandexART training, three filtering modes are used to select the most aesthetically pleasing pictures. A new text recognition algorithm has also been implemented to help the neural network better understand users' desires. Moreover, the neural network now better processes features of faces, eyes and hands, which allows it to create photorealistic portraits.

To further improve the generation quality, the neural network undergoes a reinforcement learning process. The company's experts carefully study hundreds or thousands of generated images created with YandexART and note successful and unsuccessful examples. This allows the neural network to better understand how best to depict various animals, characters, objects and phenomena.

Where is YandexART used?

YandexART is used in the Masterpiece app where it helps users generate images and videos. More than 100 million generations have been generated since the app was launched.

YandexART is also used in Yandex Business when creating advertisements. Users can choose a suitable illustration from the YandexART images already generated by the neural network. The Yandex Business neurostock contains about 3,000 images for 650 types of activities. These images are available for 82% advertising campaigns and are already used in every fifth placement.

In the future, Yandex Keyboard will add the function of using YandexART to generate pictures by text description and set them as background.