[WithinReason]

I meant sequential generation, I didn't mean using an RNN.

Diffusion doesn't work on pixels directly either, it works on a latent representation.

[kleiba]

All NNs work on latent representations.

[barrkel]

The contrast here is real: there are pixel space diffusion models and latent space diffusion models. Pixel space diffusion is slower because there's more redundant information.