Configure Summarization
Summarization provides a chatbot-like experience to your users by enhancing the efficiency of information delivery. Offering quick and concise summaries can lead to faster decision-making, improved user satisfaction, and higher engagement levels. The versatility of summarizations makes it a valuable tool across multiple industries, and any application requiring the summarization of complex data into more manageable insights.
Whether it's streamlining customer service interactions, accelerating research, or enhancing educational tools, the ability to summarize vast amounts of data into digestible, actionable insights can significantly boost productivity across various business operations and industries.
To enable summarization, send a summary request with your query. This
example configuration instructs Vectara not only to search for relevant data but also
also to generate a summary based on the most relevant five results, which
provides a comprehensive response rooted in the queried data.
{
"query": [
{
"query": "What is the infinite improbability drive?",
"start": 0,
"numResults": 10,
"corpusKey": [
{
"customerId": 12345678,
"corpusId": 1,
}
],
"summary": [
{
"summarizerPromptName": "vectara-summary-ext-v1.2.0",
"responseLang": "en",
"maxSummarizedResults": 5
}
]
}
]
}
This query tells Vectara to return a summary in English using the
vectara-summary-ext-v1.2.0 summarizer and to consider the first 5 results when
summarizing.
Example query response
When Vectara responds, it will contain the list of results
as well as the generative summary. Here is an example response to the query
What is the infinite improbability drive? when searching across the
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
[
{
"summary": {
"text": "\nThe Infinite Improbability Drive is a form of propulsion developed by the Galactic Government on Damogran which allows for vast interstellar distances to be crossed in a nothingth of a second without the use of hyperspace [3]. It is incredibly powerful and rare, with only rumors circulating of its existence prior to its development [1]. It has been known to cause problems with other forms of propulsion, like the photon drive [4]. It is a remarkable breakthrough in Improbability Physics [2].",
"lang": "eng",
"statusList": [],
"futureId": 2
},
"statusList": []
},
{
"responseSet": {
"responseList": [
{
"text": "Ford was wildly excited. \"Arthur!\" he said, \"this is fantastic! We've been picked up by a ship \npowered by the Infinite Improbability Drive! This is incredible! I heard \nrumors about it before! They were all officially denied, but they must \nhave done it!",
"score": 0.9203816652297974,
"metadataList": [
{
"name": "title",
"value": "Chapter 9"
},
{
"name": "lang",
"value": "eng"
},
{
"name": "breadcrumb",
"value": "[\"THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY\"]"
},
{
"name": "section",
"value": "12"
},
{
"name": "offset",
"value": "8137"
},
{
"name": "len",
"value": "76"
}
],
"documentIndex": 0,
"corpusKey": {
...
},
"resultOffset": 79,
"resultLength": 76
},
{
"text": "Look, I was right.\" \nFord jabbed at one of the pages and showed it to Arthur. \n\" It says: 'Sensational new breakthrough in Improbability Physics. As \nsoon as the ship's drive reaches Infinite Improbability it passes \nthrough every point in the Universe. Be the envy of other major \ngovernments. ' Wow, this is big league stuff.",
"score": 0.8904105424880981,
"metadataList": [
{
"name": "title",
"value": "Chapter 11"
},
{
"name": "lang",
"value": "eng"
},
{
"name": "breadcrumb",
"value": "[\"THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY\"]"
},
{
"name": "section",
"value": "14"
},
{
"name": "offset",
"value": "8211"
},
{
"name": "len",
"value": "107"
}
],
"documentIndex": 0,
"corpusKey": {
...
},
"resultOffset": 164,
"resultLength": 107
},
{
"text": "Chapter 10 Chapter 10 The Infinite Improbability Drive is a wonderful new method of \ncrossing vast interstellar distances in a mere nothingth of a second, \nwithout all that tedious mucking about in hyperspace. It was discovered by a lucky chance, and then developed into a \ngovernable form of propulsion by the Galactic Government's research \nteam on Damogran. This, briefly, is the story of its discovery.",
"score": 0.8826565742492676,
"metadataList": [
{
"name": "title",
"value": "Chapter 10"
},
{
"name": "lang",
"value": "eng"
},
{
"name": "breadcrumb",
"value": "[\"THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY\"]"
},
{
"name": "section",
"value": "13"
},
{
"name": "offset",
"value": "8"
},
{
"name": "len",
"value": "187"
}
],
"documentIndex": 0,
"corpusKey": {
...
},
"resultOffset": 37,
"resultLength": 187
},
{
"text": "The photon drive gave a sickly judder and cut out again. said Arthur. \n\"Hey, didja hear that?\" muttered Zaphod as he leapt now for the \nmanual controls of the Infinite Improbability Drive, \"the monkey \nspoke!\" The Improbability Drive gave two small whines and then also cut \nout. \"Pure history, man,\" said Zaphod, kicking the Improbability Drive, \n\"a talking monkey!\"",
"score": 0.7908053398132324,
"metadataList": [
{
"name": "title",
"value": "Chapter 3"
},
{
"name": "lang",
"value": "eng"
},
{
"name": "breadcrumb",
"value": "[\"THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE\"]"
},
{
"name": "section",
"value": "42"
},
{
"name": "offset",
"value": "769"
},
{
"name": "len",
"value": "114"
}
],
"documentIndex": 0,
"corpusKey": {
...
},
"resultOffset": 111,
"resultLength": 114
},
...
],
"documentList": [
{
"id": "TheultimateHitchhikersGuide.pdf",
"metadataList": [
{
"name": "Author",
"value": "Douglas Neil Adams"
}
]
}
],
"futureId": 1
}
},
{
...
}
]
You can see in the results that the specific sources are referenced in the
summary. Vectara issues these citations by putting
them in [number] format in the summary text, where number starts from 1
and increases by 1 in each result in the responseList.
Advanced summarization parameters
Scale users have access to more powerful summarization capabilities, which present a powerful toolkit for tailoring summarizations to specific application and user needs.
Select the summarizer model
Selecting the summarizer gives you more options to try official and experimental versions of our available summarizers. For example, Scale users can use our GPT 4.0 and GPT 4.0-Turbo summarizers.
Customize the prompt
Override the default prompt text with a custom prompt. Your use case might require a chatbot to be more human like, so you decide to create a custom response format that behaves more playfully in a conversation or summary.
Control the summary length
The responseChars parameter enables users to suggest a preferred length for
the summary. While it is not a strict limit like the fine-grained maxTokens
parameter, it provides a guideline, helping to maintain a balance between verbosity and
conciseness.
Fine-grained control over summarization output
The modelParams object provides even more fine-grained controls for the
summarizer model:
maxTokenspecifies a hard limit on the number of characters in a response.temperatureindicates whether you want the summarization to not be creative at all0.0, or for the summarization to take more creative liberties as you approach the maximium value of1.0.frequencyPenaltyprovides even more granular control to help ensure that the summarization decreases the likelihood of repeating words. These values range from0.0to1.0presencePenaltyprovides more control over whether you want the summary to include new topics. These values also range from0.0to1.0.
Example summarization use cases
Application builders can leverage these advanced capabilties to fine-tune the behavior and output style of the summarizer to align with unique application requirements. Experiment with different values in these controls.
Concise summary without creative deviations
Some use cases require more concise and with minimal creative interpretations:
maxToken=200– Brief summary but comprehensive enough to cover critical information.temperature=0.0– Factual summary with no creative deviations, and accuracy is crucial.frequencyPenalty=0.1– Minimally reduces repetition to keep essential recurring terminology.presencePenalty=0.0– Focuses on existing topics in the content history without introducing new topics.
Brief abstract summary
Researchers often need to distill complex research papers into abstracts that convey the essence of the work creatively to capture the attention of other scholars:
maxToken=150– Limits the summary to an abstract length, suitable for quick scanning.temperature=0.7– Allows for a moderate level of creativity to articulate the research's novelty and implications effectively.frequencyPenalty=0.5– Reduces repetition to ensure the summary is more succinct and to the point.presencePenalty=0.3– Encourages the inclusion of new topics or findings from the research, adding depth to the summary.
Product description summarization
E-commerce platforms require concise summarizations of product descriptions to provide engaging and informative summaries that can influence purchase decisions.
maxToken=100– Short length for quick browsing without overwhelming the customer with information.temperature=0.5– Balances creativity and factus, making the description more lively and appealing.frequencyPenalty=0.4– Helps avoid redundancy in describing product features, keeping the summary fresh and engaging.presencePenalty=0.2– Slightly encourages the introduction of new but relevant topics, such as possible use-cases or product comparisons.