Sparse Meets Dense: Unified Generative Recommendations with Cascaded Sparse-Dense Representations

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Yang, Yuhao, Ji, Zhi, Li, Zhaopeng, Li, Yi, Mo, Zhonglin, Ding, Yue, Chen, Kai, Zhang, Zijian, Li, Jie, Li, Shuanglong, Liu, Lin
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Yang, Yuhao
Ji, Zhi
Li, Zhaopeng
Li, Yi
Mo, Zhonglin
Ding, Yue
Chen, Kai
Zhang, Zijian
Li, Jie
Li, Shuanglong
Liu, Lin
author_facet Yang, Yuhao
Ji, Zhi
Li, Zhaopeng
Li, Yi
Mo, Zhonglin
Ding, Yue
Chen, Kai
Zhang, Zijian
Li, Jie
Li, Shuanglong
Liu, Lin
contents Generative models have recently gained attention in recommendation systems by directly predicting item identifiers from user interaction sequences. However, existing methods suffer from significant information loss due to the separation of stages such as quantization and sequence modeling, hindering their ability to achieve the modeling precision and accuracy of sequential dense retrieval techniques. Integrating generative and dense retrieval methods remains a critical challenge. To address this, we introduce the Cascaded Organized Bi-Represented generAtive retrieval (COBRA) framework, which innovatively integrates sparse semantic IDs and dense vectors through a cascading process. Our method alternates between generating these representations by first generating sparse IDs, which serve as conditions to aid in the generation of dense vectors. End-to-end training enables dynamic refinement of dense representations, capturing both semantic insights and collaborative signals from user-item interactions. During inference, COBRA employs a coarse-to-fine strategy, starting with sparse ID generation and refining them into dense vectors via the generative model. We further propose BeamFusion, an innovative approach combining beam search with nearest neighbor scores to enhance inference flexibility and recommendation diversity. Extensive experiments on public datasets and offline tests validate our method's robustness. Online A/B tests on a real-world advertising platform with over 200 million daily users demonstrate substantial improvements in key metrics, highlighting COBRA's practical advantages.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_02453
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Sparse Meets Dense: Unified Generative Recommendations with Cascaded Sparse-Dense Representations
Yang, Yuhao
Ji, Zhi
Li, Zhaopeng
Li, Yi
Mo, Zhonglin
Ding, Yue
Chen, Kai
Zhang, Zijian
Li, Jie
Li, Shuanglong
Liu, Lin
Information Retrieval
Artificial Intelligence
Generative models have recently gained attention in recommendation systems by directly predicting item identifiers from user interaction sequences. However, existing methods suffer from significant information loss due to the separation of stages such as quantization and sequence modeling, hindering their ability to achieve the modeling precision and accuracy of sequential dense retrieval techniques. Integrating generative and dense retrieval methods remains a critical challenge. To address this, we introduce the Cascaded Organized Bi-Represented generAtive retrieval (COBRA) framework, which innovatively integrates sparse semantic IDs and dense vectors through a cascading process. Our method alternates between generating these representations by first generating sparse IDs, which serve as conditions to aid in the generation of dense vectors. End-to-end training enables dynamic refinement of dense representations, capturing both semantic insights and collaborative signals from user-item interactions. During inference, COBRA employs a coarse-to-fine strategy, starting with sparse ID generation and refining them into dense vectors via the generative model. We further propose BeamFusion, an innovative approach combining beam search with nearest neighbor scores to enhance inference flexibility and recommendation diversity. Extensive experiments on public datasets and offline tests validate our method's robustness. Online A/B tests on a real-world advertising platform with over 200 million daily users demonstrate substantial improvements in key metrics, highlighting COBRA's practical advantages.
title Sparse Meets Dense: Unified Generative Recommendations with Cascaded Sparse-Dense Representations
topic Information Retrieval
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.02453