Related papers: Backtracing: Retrieving the Cause of the Query
Neural ranking models are traditionally trained on a series of random batches, sampled uniformly from the entire training set. Curriculum learning has recently been shown to improve neural models' effectiveness by sampling batches…
Information retrieval in real-time search presents unique challenges distinct from those encountered in classical web search. These challenges are particularly pronounced due to the rapid change of user search intent, which is influenced by…
The core of information retrieval (IR) is to identify relevant information from large-scale resources and return it as a ranked list to respond to the user's information need. In recent years, the resurgence of deep learning has greatly…
Making the content generated by Large Language Model (LLM), accurate, credible and traceable is crucial, especially in complex knowledge-intensive tasks that require multi-step reasoning and each step needs knowledge to solve.…
Simulating user interactions enables a more user-oriented evaluation of information retrieval (IR) systems. While user simulations are cost-efficient and reproducible, many approaches often lack fidelity regarding real user behavior. Most…
While recent advancements in Neural Ranking Models have resulted in significant improvements over traditional statistical retrieval models, it is generally acknowledged that the use of large neural architectures and the application of…
Cross-lingual retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) is a critical capability for retrieving and generating answers across languages. Prior work in this context has mostly focused on generation and relied on benchmarks derived from…
Users issue queries to Search Engines, and try to find the desired information in the results produced. They repeat this process if their information need is not met at the first place. It is crucial to identify the important words in a…
Many users turn to document retrieval systems (e.g. search engines) to seek answers to controversial questions. Answering such user queries usually require identifying responses within web documents, and aggregating the responses based on…
Information Retrieval (IR) systems are crucial tools for users to access information, which have long been dominated by traditional methods relying on similarity matching. With the advancement of pre-trained language models, generative…
What if Information Retrieval (IR) systems did not just retrieve relevant information that is stored in their indices, but could also "understand" it and synthesise it into a single document? We present a preliminary study that makes a…
Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) has recently emerged as a method to extend beyond the pre-trained knowledge of Large Language Models by augmenting the original prompt with relevant passages or documents retrieved by an Information…
Retrieval models are key components of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems, which generate search queries, process the documents returned, and generate a response. RAG systems are often dynamic and may involve multiple rounds of…
Information search has become essential for learning and knowledge acquisition, offering broad access to information and learning resources. The visual complexity of web pages is known to influence search behavior, with previous work…
The crucial role of the evaluation in the development of the information retrieval tools is useful evidence to improve the performance of these tools and the quality of results that they return. However, the classic evaluation approaches…
Reasoning-Intensive Retrieval (RIR) targets retrieval settings where relevance is mediated by latent inferential links between a query and supporting evidence, rather than semantic similarity. Motivated by the emergent reasoning abilities…
A frequent pattern in customer care conversations is the agents responding with appropriate webpage URLs that address users' needs. We study the task of predicting the documents that customer care agents can use to facilitate users' needs.…
Even the best information retrieval model cannot always identify the most useful answers to a user query. This is in particular the case with web search systems, where it is known that users tend to minimise their effort to access relevant…
We introduce and define the novel problem of multi-distribution information retrieval (IR) where given a query, systems need to retrieve passages from within multiple collections, each drawn from a different distribution. Some of these…
Users often fail to formulate their complex information needs in a single query. As a consequence, they may need to scan multiple result pages or reformulate their queries, which may be a frustrating experience. Alternatively, systems can…