https://xaviertai.com/topics/plain-english-ai/Recent content in Plain-English AI on Xavier TaiHugoen-usMon, 06 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://xaviertai.com/writing/rag-for-non-engineers/Mon, 06 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://xaviertai.com/writing/rag-for-non-engineers/<p>Retrieval-augmented generation is a simple idea with an awkward name.</p> <p>Before an AI answers you, it looks something up first.</p> <p>That is the whole trick. A normal language model answers from memory, the way a student writes an exam from whatever is in their head. RAG hands that same student an open book and says: check the relevant page before you write. The model still does the writing. It has just stopped guessing about facts it was never taught.</p>