AI Glossary

Embedding

Also known as: Vector embedding · Semantic vector

An embedding is a list of numbers that represents the meaning of a text, so that texts with similar meaning end up close together in vector space.

What it’s for

Embeddings enable search by meaning, not just exact words. “How do I cancel my plan” and “I want to end my subscription” land close together even with no words in common.

Where they show up

  • Semantic search and RAG
  • Content recommendation
  • Clustering and duplicate detection

In practice

Embeddings live in a vector store (such as pgvector on Postgres). Switching embedding models means re-processing the whole corpus, so choose carefully and version it.

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