Embeddings and indexing for retrieval in LLM applications
Embedding and indexing techniques provide efficient and effective retrieval in RAG-based LLM applications. They allow LLMs to quickly find and utilize relevant information from vast amounts of data. The following subsections provide a breakdown of common techniques.
Embeddings
Embeddings are numerical vector representations of data, such as text, images, or audio, that map complex, high-dimensional data into a continuous vector space where similar items are positioned close to each other. These vectors capture the underlying patterns, relationships, and semantic properties of the data, making it easier for machine learning models to understand and process. For text, for example, word embeddings transform words or phrases into dense vectors that represent their meaning in a way that reflects semantic relationships, such as synonyms being closer together in the vector space. Embeddings are typically learned from large datasets...