Retriever-and-Memory: Towards Adaptive Note-Enhanced Retrieval-Augmented Generation (2410.08821v1)

Abstract: Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) mitigates issues of the factual errors and hallucinated outputs generated by LLMs in open-domain question-answering tasks (OpenQA) via introducing external knowledge. For complex QA, however, existing RAG methods use LLMs to actively predict retrieval timing and directly use the retrieved information for generation, regardless of whether the retrieval timing accurately reflects the actual information needs, or sufficiently considers prior retrieved knowledge, which may result in insufficient information gathering and interaction, yielding low-quality answers. To address these, we propose a generic RAG approach called Adaptive Note-Enhanced RAG (Adaptive-Note) for complex QA tasks, which includes the iterative information collector, adaptive memory reviewer, and task-oriented generator, while following a new Retriever-and-Memory paradigm. Specifically, Adaptive-Note introduces an overarching view of knowledge growth, iteratively gathering new information in the form of notes and updating them into the existing optimal knowledge structure, enhancing high-quality knowledge interactions. In addition, we employ an adaptive, note-based stop-exploration strategy to decide "what to retrieve and when to stop" to encourage sufficient knowledge exploration. We conduct extensive experiments on five complex QA datasets, and the results demonstrate the superiority and effectiveness of our method and its components. The code and data are at https://github.com/thunlp/Adaptive-Note.

• The paper introduces Adaptive-Note, an innovative framework that enhances retrieval-augmented generation through iterative note-taking and adaptive memory review.
• It details a methodology combining an Iterative Information Collector, an Adaptive Memory Reviewer, and a Task-Oriented Generator to refine QA responses.
• Experimental results on five QA datasets show that Adaptive-Note outperforms existing methods by up to 8.8%, highlighting its practical impact on complex QA tasks.

Overview of "Retriever-and-Memory: Towards Adaptive Note-Enhanced Retrieval-Augmented Generation"

The paper "Retriever-and-Memory: Towards Adaptive Note-Enhanced Retrieval-Augmented Generation" presents a novel approach to Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) specifically designed to address the limitations of existing methods in complex Question-Answering (QA) tasks. This research introduces the Adaptive Note-Enhanced RAG (Adaptive-Note) approach, which operates under a new paradigm termed Retriever-and-Memory. It utilizes iterative information collection, adaptive memory review, and task-oriented generation to enhance knowledge retrieval and integration capabilities.

Methodology

The authors propose a framework composed of three core components: the Iterative Information Collector (IIC), the Adaptive Memory Reviewer (AMR), and a Task-Oriented Generator.

1. Iterative Information Collector (IIC): This component initiates by gathering relevant information from a corpus through retrieval operations and then updates an evolving memory structure in the form of notes. It leverages LLMs for generating queries iteratively based on prior knowledge, aiming to ensure comprehensive information exploration.
2. Adaptive Memory Reviewer (AMR): The AMR assesses and decides if newly acquired information should be integrated into the memory. It ensures that only useful and novel information updates the memory structure, triggering retrieval cessation when the gathered knowledge is deemed sufficient.
3. Task-Oriented Generator: Once the optimal memory state is determined, the generator produces a final answer tailored to the specific QA task requirements, ensuring that the response is both accurate and contextually relevant.

Experimental Results

Extensive evaluations were conducted on five complex QA datasets. The results demonstrate that Adaptive-Note outperforms existing RAG methods, registering improvements up to 8.8% in comparison to baseline models. Notably, the adaptability and iterative nature of the retriever and memory mechanism enable higher quality in generated answers by better aligning retrieval strategies to the nuances of multifaceted questions.

Implications and Future Work

The research presents compelling evidence for the efficacy of note-enhanced adaptive systems in QA tasks, particularly where information needs are complex and multilayered. The ability to iteratively refine and adaptively expand collected knowledge highlights the potential for this approach in broader AI applications, such as conversational agents and decision-support systems.

Future work could explore integrating this paradigm with emerging LLM frameworks to enhance scalability and efficiency. Additionally, there is potential for applying the Adaptive-Note methodology beyond QA, such as in tasks requiring dynamic information synthesis, thereby broadening its utility across diverse AI challenges.

In conclusion, this paper offers significant advancements in RAG methodologies, addressing key limitations in information collection strategies for complex QA tasks and setting a foundation for future innovations in adaptive learning systems.