Conditional axial transformer layers for high-fidelity image transformation

Apparatus and methods relate to receiving an input image comprising an array of pixels, wherein the input image is associated with a first characteristic; applying a neural network to transform the input image to an output image associated with a second characteristic by generating, by an encoder and for each pixel of the array of pixels of the input image, an encoded pixel, providing, to a decoder, the array of encoded pixels, applying, by the decoder, axial attention to decode a given pixel, wherein the axial attention comprises a row attention or a column attention applied to one or more previously decoded pixels in rows or columns preceding a row or column associated with the given pixel, wherein the row or column attention mixes information within a respective row or column, and maintains independence between respective different rows or different columns; and generating, by the neural network, the output image.