Yandex B2B Tech has launched a hybrid search technology that allows simultaneous information retrieval based on exact character matching and word meaning. TASS was informed about this by the company. Yandex claims that the solution has no analogues in Russia.
How it works
The technology is based on combining two approaches. Full-text search is responsible for exact character matching: document numbers, codes, terms. Vector search works with meaning: it understands that “system failure” and “software error” can mean the same thing.
Hybrid search combines both types and covers the entire query. The company gave an example: an insurance agent's query in a CRM system “payments for policy 7702-345678 in case of an accident with victims”. Full-text search will find the exact policy number, vector search will take into account the context of the incident.
Where it will be applied
The technology will help improve the output of recommendation systems for marketplaces and social networks, as well as the quality of chatbots and other AI products. Yandex noted that if only vector search is used, the system may miss exact terms or specific codes. And only full-text search will not understand semantic matches. The hybrid approach will help AI assistants provide accurate answers even to ambiguous queries.