What is a Vector DB in LLMOps?

A vector database, or "vector db," is a specialized type of database that stores and processes data in vector form. In these databases, embeddings, which are vector (mathematical) representations of data, are utilized where linear distances capture structure in the original datasets. This allows teams to connect their data to large language models (LLMs), with common applications including chatbots that search across a company's knowledge base or context to answer specific questions.

Example

Popular open-source vector databases that facilitate such functionalities and can connect to platforms like Arize include Milvus, Faiss (Facebook AI Similarity Search), Pinecone, and Elasticsearch with a Vector Search Plugin, each offering unique features for efficient handling and retrieval of vector data in AI applications.