Numbers, categories, locations, images, text. How to embed the world? | S2 E9
Oct 10, 2024
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Mór Kapronczay, Head of ML at Superlinked, unpacks the nuances of embeddings beyond just text. He emphasizes that traditional text embeddings fall short, especially with complex data. Mór introduces multi-modal embeddings that integrate various data types, improving search relevance and user experiences. He also discusses challenges in embedding numerical data, suggesting innovative methods like logarithmic transformations. The conversation delves into balancing speed and accuracy in vector searches, highlighting the dynamic nature of real-time data prioritization.
Embedding models should be tailored to diverse data types to overcome limitations and effectively represent complex information.
Dynamic weighting in embedding models enhances relevance by adjusting the significance of different data types based on user context.
Deep dives
Limitations of Text-Only Embeddings
Text-only embeddings often fall short when dealing with data that comprises more than just text, leading to significant limitations in their effectiveness. For instance, using a traditional embedding model to analyze numerical data, such as plotting similarities between numbers, can result in unexpected noise that distorts expected relationships. This highlights the inadequacy of expecting a one-size-fits-all approach for diverse data types, emphasizing the importance of embedding models tailored to specific data characteristics. To overcome such limitations, the discussion encourages the exploration of more nuanced representations that effectively capture the complexity of different data forms.
Unified Representations for Diverse Use Cases
Creating unified representations that serve as a backbone for various applications is crucial for enhancing the effectiveness of data-driven implementations. A unified representation can streamline user vector creation that powers various functionalities like semantic search and recommendation systems across multiple platforms. By leveraging the same vectors derived from underlying data, businesses can achieve consistent and personalized experiences for users across different applications. This approach illustrates how thoughtful embedding strategies can lead to improved insights and more coherent user interactions in a data-rich environment.
Embedding Challenges with Location and Numbers
Embedding complex data types, such as geographic locations and numerical values, poses unique challenges in representation and scaling. For instance, geographical coordinates can be difficult to represent as embeddings due to the inherent complexity of scaling distances within localized areas. Similarly, embedding numeric values requires careful consideration of how to convey their significance meaningfully, as traditional embeddings may lead to a rigid or unresponsive representation. Addressing these challenges calls for innovative methods to accurately transform such data into useful embeddings while maintaining their contextual relevance.
Dynamic Weighting in Embedding Models
Dynamic weighting allows embedding models to adjust the significance of various data inputs based on user queries or specific contexts, enhancing the relevance of search results. For example, if a query is primarily visual, the model can increase the weight of image embeddings relative to text embeddings, ensuring a more contextually appropriate response. This adaptive approach facilitates a nuanced understanding of user intent and can significantly improve the performance of recommendation systems. Implementing such dynamic mechanisms emphasizes the importance of tailoring models to user interactions for refined outcomes in data retrieval and relevance.
Today’s guest is Mór Kapronczay. Mór is the Head of ML at superlinked. Superlinked is a compute framework for your information retrieval and feature engineering systems, where they turn anything into embeddings.
When most people think about embeddings, they think about ada, openai.
You just take your text and throw it in there.
But that’s too crude.
OpenAI embeddings are trained on the internet.
But your data set (most likely) is not the internet.
You have different nuances.
And you have more than just text.
So why not use it.
Some highlights:
Text Embeddings are Not a Magic Bullet
➡️ Pouring everything into a text embedding model won't yield magical results ➡️ Language is lossy - it's a poor compression method for complex information
Embedding Numerical Data
➡️ Direct number embeddings don't work well for vector search ➡️ Consider projecting number ranges onto a quarter circle ➡️ Apply logarithmic transforms for skewed distributions
Multi-Modal Embeddings
➡️ Create separate vector parts for different data aspects ➡️ Normalize individual parts ➡️ Weight vector parts based on importance
A Multi-Vector approach can help you understand the contributions of each modality or embedding and give you an easier time to fine-tune your retrieval system without fine-tuning your embedding models by tuning your vector database like you would a search database (like Elastic).
00:00 Introduction to Embeddings 00:30 Beyond Text: Expanding Embedding Capabilities 02:09 Challenges and Innovations in Embedding Techniques 03:49 Unified Representations and Vector Computers 05:54 Embedding Complex Data Types 07:21 Recommender Systems and Interaction Data 08:59 Combining and Weighing Embeddings 14:58 Handling Numerical and Categorical Data 20:35 Optimizing Embedding Efficiency 22:46 Dynamic Weighting and Evaluation 24:35 Exploring AB Testing with Embeddings 25:08 Joint vs Separate Embedding Spaces 27:30 Understanding Embedding Dimensions 29:59 Libraries and Frameworks for Embeddings 32:08 Challenges in Embedding Models 33:03 Vector Database Connectors 34:09 Balancing Production and Updates 36:50 Future of Vector Search and Modalities 39:36 Building with Embeddings: Tips and Tricks 42:26 Concluding Thoughts and Next Steps
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