Agentic Information Retrieval

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Zhang, Weinan, Liao, Junwei, Li, Ning, Du, Kounianhua, Lin, Jianghao
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
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author Zhang, Weinan
Liao, Junwei
Li, Ning
Du, Kounianhua
Lin, Jianghao
author_facet Zhang, Weinan
Liao, Junwei
Li, Ning
Du, Kounianhua
Lin, Jianghao
contents Since the 1970s, information retrieval (IR) has long been defined as the process of acquiring relevant information items from a pre-defined corpus to satisfy user information needs. Traditional IR systems, while effective in domains like web search, are constrained by their reliance on static, pre-defined information items. To this end, this paper introduces agentic information retrieval (Agentic IR), a transformative next-generation paradigm for IR driven by large language models (LLMs) and AI agents. The central shift in agentic IR is the evolving definition of ``information'' from static, pre-defined information items to dynamic, context-dependent information states. Information state refers to a particular information context that the user is right in within a dynamic environment, encompassing not only the acquired information items but also real-time user preferences, contextual factors, and decision-making processes. In such a way, traditional information retrieval, focused on acquiring relevant information items based on user queries, can be naturally extended to achieving the target information state given the user instruction, which thereby defines the agentic information retrieval. We systematically discuss agentic IR from various aspects, i.e., task formulation, architecture, evaluation, case studies, as well as challenges and future prospects. We believe that the concept of agentic IR introduced in this paper not only broadens the scope of information retrieval research but also lays the foundation for a more adaptive, interactive, and intelligent next-generation IR paradigm.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_09713
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Agentic Information Retrieval
Zhang, Weinan
Liao, Junwei
Li, Ning
Du, Kounianhua
Lin, Jianghao
Information Retrieval
Artificial Intelligence
Since the 1970s, information retrieval (IR) has long been defined as the process of acquiring relevant information items from a pre-defined corpus to satisfy user information needs. Traditional IR systems, while effective in domains like web search, are constrained by their reliance on static, pre-defined information items. To this end, this paper introduces agentic information retrieval (Agentic IR), a transformative next-generation paradigm for IR driven by large language models (LLMs) and AI agents. The central shift in agentic IR is the evolving definition of ``information'' from static, pre-defined information items to dynamic, context-dependent information states. Information state refers to a particular information context that the user is right in within a dynamic environment, encompassing not only the acquired information items but also real-time user preferences, contextual factors, and decision-making processes. In such a way, traditional information retrieval, focused on acquiring relevant information items based on user queries, can be naturally extended to achieving the target information state given the user instruction, which thereby defines the agentic information retrieval. We systematically discuss agentic IR from various aspects, i.e., task formulation, architecture, evaluation, case studies, as well as challenges and future prospects. We believe that the concept of agentic IR introduced in this paper not only broadens the scope of information retrieval research but also lays the foundation for a more adaptive, interactive, and intelligent next-generation IR paradigm.
title Agentic Information Retrieval
topic Information Retrieval
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.09713