Glossary Retrieval augmented generation (RAG)

Retrieval augmented generation (RAG)

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What is retrieval augmented generation (RAG)?

Retrieval augmented generation (RAG) is a natural language processing (NLP) technique that combines the
strengths of both retrieval- and generative-based artificial intelligence (AI) models. RAG AI can deliver
accurate results that make the most of pre-existing knowledge but can also process and consolidate that
knowledge to create unique, context-aware answers, instructions, or explanations in human-like language
rather than just summarizing the retrieved data. RAG AI is different from generative AI in that it is a superset
of generative AI. RAG combines the strengths of both generative AI and retrieval AI. RAG is also different
from cognitive AI, which mimics the way the human brain works to get its results.

How does retrieval augmented generation (RAG) work?

RAG, short for retrieval augmented generation, works by integrating retrieval-based techniques with
generative-based AI models. Retrieval-based models excel at extracting information from pre-existing
online sources like newspaper articles, databases, blogs, and other knowledge repositories such as
Wikipedia or even internal databases. However, such models cannot produce original or unique responses.
Alternatively, generative models can generate original responses that are appropriate within the context of
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 what is being asked, but can find it difficult to maintain strict accuracy. To overcome these relative
weaknesses in existing models, RAG was developed to combine their respective strengths and minimize
their drawbacks. In a RAG-based AI system, a retrieval model is used to find relevant information from
existing information sources while the generative model takes the retrieved information, synthesizes all the
data, and shapes it into a coherent and contextually appropriate response.

What are the benefits of retrieval augmented generation?

By integrating retrieval and generative artificial intelligence (AI) models, RAG delivers responses that are
more accurate, relevant, and original while also sounding like they came from humans. That’s because RAG
models can understand the context of queries and generate fresh and unique replies by combining the best
of both models. By doing this, RAG models are:

More accurate — By first using a retrieval model to identify relevant information from existing knowledge
sources, the original human-like responses that are subsequently generated are based on more relevant
and up-to-date information than a pure generative model.
Better at synthesizing information — By combining retrieval and generative models, RAG can
synthesize information from numerous sources and generate fresh responses in a human-like way. This
is particularly helpful for more complex queries that require integrating information from multiple
sources.
Adept at putting information into context — Unlike simple retrieval models, RAG can generate
responses that are aware of the context of a conversation, and are thus more relevant.
Easier to train — Training an NLP-based large language model (LLM) to build a generative AI model
requires a tremendous volume of data. Alternatively, RAG models use pre-existing and pre-retrieved
knowledge sources, reducing the need to find and ingest massive amounts of training data.
More efficient — RAG models can be more efficient than large-scale generative models, as the initial
retrieval phase narrows down the context and thus the volume of data that needs to be processed in the
generation phase.

How is retrieval augmented generation being used today?

These are some real-life examples of how RAG models are being used today to:

Improve customer support — RAG can be used to build advanced chatbots or virtual assistants that
deliver more personalized and accurate responses to customer queries. This can lead to faster

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 responses, increased operational efficiencies, and eventually, greater customer satisfaction with
support experiences.
Generate content — RAG can help businesses produce blog posts, articles, product catalogs, or other
content by combining its generative capabilities with retrieving information from reliable sources, both
external and internal.
Perform market research — By gathering insights from the vast volumes of data available on the
internet—such as breaking news, industry research reports, even social media posts—RAG can keep
businesses updated on market trends and even analyze competitors’ activities, helping businesses make
better decisions.
Support sales — RAG can serve as a virtual sales assistant, answering customers’ questions about items
in inventory, retrieving product specifications, explaining operating instructions, and in general, assisting
in the purchasing lifecycle. By marrying its generative abilities with product catalogs, pricing information,
and other data—even customer reviews on social media—RAG can offer personalized recommendations,
address customers’ concerns, and improve shopping experiences.
Improve employee experience — RAG can help employees create and share a centralized repository of
expert knowledge. By integrating with internal databases and documents, RAG can give employees
accurate answers to questions about company operations, benefits, processes, culture, organizational
structure, and more.

Cohesity and AI
Cohesity is at the forefront in the dawning age of AI because the Cohesity platform is ‘AI Ready’ for RAG-
based large language models (LLM). The ground-breaking Cohesity approach provides robust and domain-
specific context to RAG-driven AI systems by leveraging the robust file system of the Cohesity patented
SnapTree and SpanFS architectures. To achieve this, an on-demand index of embeddings will be provided
just-in-time to the AI application requesting the data. Additionally, the data will be secured through
Cohesity’s role-based access control (RBAC) models.
The Cohesity RAG platform currently under development accepts both human or machine-driven input such
as questions and queries. That input is then tokenized with keywords that quickly filter petabytes of
enterprise backup data down to a smaller subset of contextualized data. It then selects representations
from within those documents or objects that are most relevant to the question or query. That result is
packaged, along with the original query, to an LLM such as GPT4 to provide a context-aware and human-
sounding answer. This approach is innovative and ensures that the generated responses are not only
knowledgeable and up-to-date, but also diverse and relevant to the specific business content.

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 By layering RAG on top of an enterprise’s own datasets, Cohesity customers will not need to perform costly
fine-tuning or extended training on vast volumes of data to teach LLMs “what to say.” This saves time and
money and also reduces environmental impact, since RAG models are flexible enough to adapt to datasets
that are rapidly growing and constantly changing. For this reason, leveraging RAG on the Cohesity platform
can provide the most recent and relevant context to any query.
Cohesity’s RAG-aware platform will generate more knowledgeable, diverse, and relevant responses
compared to off-the-shelf LLMs without massively increasing data storage requirements. This
breakthrough has tremendous potential for new innovations with enterprise Q&A (questions and answers)
applications and industry search and discovery models.
Technology and business executives alike will have a unique opportunity to leverage the power of data-
driven insights to enhance the quality of AI-driven conversations with Cohesity’s RAG-driven AI system. By
harnessing the power of Cohesity data management and security solutions, enhanced by AI, organizations
can unleash new levels of efficiency, innovation, and growth.

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