Do you need semantic search?

I get asked this question all the time: Do I need semantic search? It’s a good question, but it’s not the right question to start with. You need to first understand what semantic search can do for you. Then you can dive into whether or not it’s a good fit for your use case.

I’ve answered both questions in my most recent blog post and its video counterpart, linked below. These answer the following questions:

1. How does OpenSearch find documents out of the box?
2. Why don’t these traditional search methods always work?
3. When and how should semantic search be used in OpenSearch?

I have created some additional resources to help you get started! This GitHub Gist will help you create an OpenSearch Docker Compose environment. I have also created this Gist with all the code needed to create your own semantic search pipeline right from OpenSearch Dashboards. I hope you enjoy them, and if your organization needs help getting started with semantic search, you can reach out to me on my website.