Comparing Vector and Keyword Search for AI Applications

Vector search and keyword search are distinct approaches to information retrieval, each with unique strengths and limitations. Vector search employs machine learning models to encode data into high-dimensional vectors, capturing semantic relationships and enabling similarity-based retrieval, which is effective for handling synonyms and contextual meanings. It is particularly beneficial for generative AI applications, such as retrieval-augmented generation systems, where semantic similarity significantly improves information retrieval accuracy and user experience. However, vector search requires robust preprocessing pipelines and computational resources. In contrast, keyword search relies on exact keyword matches using techniques like inverted indexes, which offer efficient document retrieval but often struggle with capturing the full intent behind queries due to limited context understanding. Despite enhancements like stemming and spell correction, keyword search may miss relevant results involving related terms. Modern applications frequently combine both methods to leverage the precise matching of keywords alongside the semantic understanding of vector embeddings, providing comprehensive search solutions. Tools like Unstructured.io facilitate the preprocessing of unstructured data for vector search, supporting various applications such as customer support, marketing personalization, and e-commerce product discovery by efficiently preparing data for embedding generation and storage in vector databases.