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The AI resume: a glossary

Retrieval layer

What is Retrieval layer?

The retrieval layer is what a model fetches live when it is asked about you: your site, reviews, coverage, listings and whatever else it can reach at that moment.

Who uses the term Retrieval layer?

Used in this book as the half of an AI resume you can actually move this month.

Commonly called retrieval-augmented generation, or grounding, in technical writing.

How does Retrieval layer differ from related terms?

The retrieval layer reflects what is published now. The memory layer reflects what was published before the last training run.

Changing a source changes the retrieval layer directly. It changes the memory layer only eventually, and only if the change persists.

What does Online Reputation Management for Your AI Resume say about Retrieval layer?

The book treats the retrieval layer as where the work lands first: fix a source and the answer can change within days to weeks. Every tactic in the book works on one layer, the other, or both, and knowing which is what stops people expecting the wrong speed.

Read about the book's argument.

Related terms

  • Memory layer

    The memory layer is what a model carries from training: the impression of you already inside it before any search happens.

  • AI resume

    An AI resume is the profile an AI model assembles about you or your business when someone asks, built from everything the model can retrieve and remember.

  • Citations

    Citations are the sources a model shows for what it just said about you, and they are the map of which pages are actually feeding your AI resume.

  • Machine time

    Machine time is the timescale an AI resume actually moves on: days to weeks for retrieved sources, months for pattern-level change, and model release cycles for anything held in memory.

All 13 terms Online Reputation Management for Your AI Resume