Challenges in evaluating RAG systems for LLMs
Evaluating RAG systems presents a unique set of challenges that distinguish it from evaluating traditional information retrieval or QA systems. These challenges stem from the interplay between the retrieval and generation components and the need to assess both the factual accuracy and the quality of the generated text.
The following sections will detail the specific challenges that are encountered when evaluating RAG systems for LLMs.
The interplay between retrieval and generation
The performance of a RAG system is a product of both its retrieval component and its generation component. Strong retrieval can provide the LLM with relevant and accurate information, leading to a better-generated response. Conversely, poor retrieval can mislead the LLM, resulting in an inaccurate or irrelevant answer, even if the generator itself is highly capable. Therefore, evaluating a RAG system requires assessing not only the quality of the retrieved...