How AI Search Works
Step by step: how AI search turns a question into an answer – retrieval, entities, passages, generation and citations.
Short answer
How does AI search work?
An AI search system interprets the query, retrieves candidate documents from an index, selects the most relevant passages, generates an answer with a language model and attaches source links – so every step depends on your content being accessible and clear.
1. Understanding the question
The system expands the query, often into several sub-queries.
2. Retrieval
It fetches candidate pages from an index or a live crawl.
3. Passage selection
Relevant passages are scored; clear, self-contained sections are easier to use.
4. Generation and citation
The model writes an answer and links supporting sources.
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