The race for excellence in search technologies has heated up once again with the launch of Algolia NeuralSearch, a new combination of AI engine, vector database search, and traditional keyword search. Algolia’s existing technology was already delivering 1.5 trillion searches per year, powering queries for over 17,000 organizations, such as Walgreens, Under Armour, and Petsmart. To further improve their search capabilities, Algolia acquired Search.io in September 2022.
NeuralSearch is the result of blending keyword search from Algolia and vector search from Search.io. It is claimed to be a highly accurate search system that is able to understand user intent and context. Vector databases have become increasingly important and necessary for AI deployments, and provide a data resource to maximize machine learning functions and data inquiries.
Algolia’s “secret sauce,” as Bernadette Nixon, CEO of Algolia, calls it, is their approach to managing the vectors in a way that minimizes costs while still sustaining 100% accuracy. This process is called neural hashing, where vectors are distilled into binary and stored in the Algolia index. NeuralSearch is able to both apply keyword and vector search to any query and quickly deliver relevant results with minimal false positives. Early adopters of the system have seen their no-result rate drop by 70%, and reported an average 20% increase in conversions to revenue.
The potential for Algolia’s vector database goes beyond search. Companies looking to use their own data for AI don’t need to bother with a separate vector database anymore, as the company has a new release in the works that will enable vector embeddings to integrate into the common SQL data model. This means that the data can be vectorized, hashed, and sent back to the user, all inside the same database.
Algolia is a French technology company founded in 2012 in Paris. It has now become one of the leading search technologies, is trusted by over 17,000 organizations, and is used for over 1.5 trillion searches per year. Their CEO, Bernadette Nixon, has been an essential part of the company’s success – leading Algolia through major changes such as their acquisition of Search.io, and overseeing the development of the NeuralSearch platform. Her extensive experience in the information technology field and her dedication to the company are great assets to Algolia.
