What are embeddings?
Embeddings are lists of numbers that represent the meaning of a chunk of text. Similar meanings land near each other, so software can search by idea instead of exact words.
In plain English
You do not read the numbers. The search box does. That is how a tool finds your 'no hot water' SOP when a customer wrote 'heater is cold.' Perplexity's docs list an Embeddings API for this kind of semantic search. The quality depends on the chunks you stored. An embedding is a coordinate, not a summary you can read. Two notes can sit near each other because they share words like 'deposit' even when one is a quote and one is a complaint. Do not throw away the original sentence. Search should return the passage a person can check, not a pile of numbers that 'felt' close.
How an owner would use it
If you turn on AI search over your docs, name the folder it may read. Do not point it at old price sheets and HR files in the same pile.
Common mistakes
Embeddings are not something an owner tunes on a Tuesday. You use them inside a product's document search. Pointing that search at every file on the drive, including payroll and old quotes, makes similar-meaning search a liability. Do not buy a vector database because a blog said embeddings are the future. Clean the folder first. If keyword search on a handful of SOPs already works, stay there.
A worked example
A well service company
Lukewarm water, right checklist
This is an illustration, not a customer result. A tech types 'they say the water never gets hot.' Search over embeddings surfaces the water-heater checklist even though the title says 'temperature complaint.' The tech still follows the checklist instead of a generated shortcut.
Related terms
Prompts and guides
Questions owners ask
What are embeddings?
Embeddings turn text into numbers so software can find passages with a similar meaning, not just the same keywords.
How would an owner use embeddings?
You usually use them inside a product's document search. Keep the indexed folder current and limited to files you would hand a new hire.
Do I need to see the numbers?
No. The numbers are how the software compares passages. You judge the search by whether it opens the right SOP, not by inspecting the embedding.
Product guides are on AI apps for business.