Getting Started with Retrieve-Augmented Generation (RAG)
Chapter 1: Introduction to Retrieve-Augmented Generation
Limitations of Standard Large Language Models
What is Retrieve-Augmented Generation (RAG)?
The Core Architecture of a RAG System
RAG vs. Fine-tuning: Understanding the Differences
Benefits of Using RAG
Quiz for Chapter 1
Chapter 2: The Retrieval Component
Role of the Retriever in RAG
Introduction to Vector Embeddings
Common Embedding Models
Similarity Search: Finding Relevant Vectors
Introduction to Vector Databases
Choosing a Vector Database: Considerations
Practice: Generating Text Embeddings
Quiz for Chapter 2
Chapter 3: Preparing Data for Retrieval
Loading Documents from Various Sources
The Need for Document Chunking
Fixed-Size Chunking Strategies
Content-Aware Chunking Approaches
Metadata Association with Chunks
Storing Processed Data in a Vector Database
Hands-on Practical: Chunking Documents
Quiz for Chapter 3
Chapter 4: The Generation Component and Augmentation
Role of the Generator (LLM) in RAG
Structuring Prompts for RAG
Context Injection Methods
Managing Context Length Limitations
Generating the Final Response
Attributing Sources in Generated Output
Quiz for Chapter 4
Chapter 5: Building a Basic RAG Pipeline
Overview of RAG Frameworks (e.g., LangChain, LlamaIndex)
Setting up the Environment
Implementing the Retriever
Implementing the Generator Integration
Combining Retrieval and Generation
Running Queries Through the Pipeline
Hands-on Practical: End-to-End RAG System
Quiz for Chapter 5
Chapter 6: Evaluating and Improving RAG Systems
Challenges in Evaluating RAG
Component-Level Evaluation: Retrieval
Component-Level Evaluation: Generation
End-to-End RAG Evaluation Frameworks
Common Failure Modes
Basic Strategies for Improvement
Practice: Analyzing RAG Output Quality
Quiz for Chapter 6
Storing Processed Data in a Vector Database
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- Sentence-BERT: Sentence Embeddings using Siamese BERT-Networks, Nils Reimers and Iryna Gurevych, 2019 Proceedings of the 2019 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing and the 9th International Joint Conference on Natural Language Processing (EMNLP-IJCNLP) DOI: 10.18653/v1/D19-1410 - Introduces Sentence-BERT, a model that generates semantically meaningful sentence embeddings suitable for similarity comparison, a core technique for preparing data for vector databases.
- Efficient and Robust Approximate Nearest Neighbor Search Using Hierarchical Navigable Small World Graphs, Yu. A. Malkov, D. A. Yashunin, 2020 IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, Vol. 42 (IEEE) DOI: 10.1109/TPAMI.2018.2889473 - Describes the HNSW algorithm, a widely adopted method for efficient approximate nearest neighbor search in high-dimensional spaces, a core component of many vector databases.
- Weaviate Concepts: Vector Database, Weaviate Team, 2024 (Weaviate) - Official documentation providing a clear explanation of vector database architecture, functionality, and their application in semantic search and RAG.
- Vector Embeddings: Applications, Architecture, and Best Practices in Machine Learning, Nikhil Daniel, Shubham Sarma, 2023 (O'Reilly Media) - A book offering a comprehensive introduction to vector embeddings, covering their generation, storage, and retrieval for semantic search and various machine learning applications.