Data & retrieval
AI Search
A search experience that returns a synthesised AI answer with citations — instead of a ranked list of links — powered by retrieval plus an LLM.
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In plain English
AI search rebuilds the search box around an LLM. Instead of returning ten blue links and asking you to read them, an AI search engine retrieves relevant pages, summarises them, and shows you the answer with inline citations. It's the consumer-facing application of retrieval-augmented generation (RAG).
How it works:
- User types a query in natural language
- System retrieves relevant documents (web pages, PDFs, internal docs)
- LLM reads the documents and writes a cited answer
- User can follow citations or ask follow-ups
Major products:
- Perplexity — the most popular standalone AI search engine
- ChatGPT Search and Claude Search — built into the AI assistants
- Google AI Overview — the answer box on Google itself
- You.com and Komo — alternative AI-first search engines
- Glean, Onyx, and Mendable — enterprise/internal AI search
AI search and traditional search aren't the same market — AI search captures the "tell me about X" intent, while traditional search still owns navigational and transactional queries.
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Related terms
Generative Search
A search experience that generates an answer in natural language — using retrieved sources as input to an LLM — instead of returning a list of links.
AI Overview
Google’s AI-generated answer summary at the top of search results — synthesised from multiple sources, replacing some traditional blue-link traffic.
RAG
Retrieval-Augmented Generation — a technique that gives an AI model access to external documents before it answers, so it can cite real, up-to-date sources.
Semantic Search
Search that finds results by meaning rather than exact keyword matches — so "car" finds results about "automobile" too.
Vector Database
A database optimised for storing and searching embeddings (numerical representations of text or images) by similarity.
Embeddings
A way of converting text (or images) into lists of numbers so an AI can measure how similar two pieces of content are.
Back to glossaryLast reviewed May 2026