Module 9 · Real-World GenAI Projects

Project Guide: Semantic Search

Semantic search projects use embeddings and similarity retrieval to find relevant information despite vocabulary differences.

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Core idea

Project Guide: Semantic Search

Semantic search projects use embeddings and similarity retrieval to find relevant information despite vocabulary differences.

Design principle: Define the outcome, use authorized information, constrain the system, and verify real results before relying on them.

Visual workflow

How the parts connect

01Corpus
02Embed
03Index
04Query
05Rank
06Measure

Every boundary is an opportunity to validate inputs, permissions, quality, and failure handling.

Worked example

Apply the concept

A knowledge portal embeds article passages and measures recall and ranking on real employee queries before replacing keyword search.
RequirementState the user outcome and success measure.
InformationUse representative, authorized, high-quality data.
ControlAdd permissions, validation, review, and recovery.
EvidenceMeasure quality, safety, latency, cost, and value.

Production and responsibility checklist

01

Quality

Correctness, relevance, coverage, and consistency.

02

Security

Identity, data, tools, networks, and logs.

03

Fairness

Impacted groups and meaningful failure differences.

04

Operations

Latency, errors, drift, quotas, and availability.

05

Human control

Review, escalation, override, and accountability.

06

Economics

Usage drivers and measurable business value.

Knowledge check

What to remember

  • Prepare searchable content
  • Create embeddings
  • Retrieve similar items
  • Measure relevance
  • Identify the requirement, constraint, risk, and verification method before choosing a technology.

Key takeaways

  • Prepare searchable content
  • Create embeddings
  • Retrieve similar items
  • Measure relevance

Check your understanding

  1. Can you explain this concept in two sentences without using jargon?
  2. Can you identify the input, process, output, and validation step in the example?
  3. Can you name one suitable use case and one case where another approach is better?
  4. Which risk or limitation should a responsible implementation address?

Research references

Public sources and further reading

This lesson is original educational writing informed by the public references below. Use the sources to explore definitions, technical details, and current AWS exam objectives.