Nonparametric Data Attribution for Diffusion Models

Yutian Zhao, Chao Du, Xiaosen Zheng, Tianyu Pang, Min Lin

Keywords: Diffusion Models, Data Attribution, Nonparametric Methods

TL;DR: A nonparametric data attribution method for diffusion models.

Abstract: Data attribution for generative models seeks to quantify the influence of individual training examples on model outputs. Existing methods for diffusion models typically require access to model gradients or retraining, limiting their applicability in proprietary or large-scale settings. We propose a *nonparametric* attribution method that operates entirely on data, measuring influence via patch-level similarity between generated and training images. Our approach is grounded in the analytical form of the optimal score function and naturally extends to multiscale representations, while remaining computationally efficient through convolution-based acceleration. In addition to producing spatially interpretable attributions, our framework uncovers patterns that reflect intrinsic relationships between training data and outputs, independent of any specific model. Experiments demonstrate that our method achieves strong attribution performance, closely matching gradient-based approaches and substantially outperforming existing nonparametric baselines.

Primary Area: interpretability and explainable AI

Submission Number: 8484