Variational Autoencoders .VAEs, are like a very clever artist who can draw almost anything. Imagine you have a magical artist who can create beautiful pictures from simple sketches. You start by giving this artist a basic outline of what you want, and then they fill in the details to create a detailed and unique image.
In the same way, VAEs are a type of computer program that can generate new data from simple information. You provide it with some basic data or sketches, and it can create new, detailed examples based on what it has learned. For instance, if you give a VAE lots of pictures of different animals, it can generate new images of animals that look similar but are entirely new creations.
Here’s how it works: The VAE first learns from lots of examples to understand the patterns and features in the data. It creates a simplified version of the data (like a basic sketch) that captures the essential features. When you ask it to generate new data, it starts with this simplified version and then fills in the details to produce new, unique examples.
In simple terms, a Variational Autoencoder is a clever tool that can take basic information and create detailed and new data based on what it has learned, like an artist creating detailed pictures from simple sketches.