Cohere: approach enterprise retrieval as an evaluation problem

Define the retrieval job

Identify the corpus, user questions and access boundaries. Cohere offers enterprise AI capabilities including retrieval-related models and services, but the right configuration depends on the task. Start with a small, representative collection.

Separate retrieval from answering

Measure whether the correct passage is found before judging a generated response. Include exact identifiers, broad descriptions and queries with no answer in the collection. A good language model cannot reliably repair evidence that was never retrieved.

Compare useful outcomes

Test a baseline and inspect failures by document type or language. Review current model versions, deployment options and data-handling conditions. For an illustrative internal search pilot, track whether users reach the authoritative document and whether outdated versions are excluded. The goal is a dependable evidence pipeline that can be explained and maintained. A promising vendor demonstration is a starting hypothesis; the decision should rest on results from the material and constraints your organisation actually uses.

Sources & notes

Source-based guide, not a hands-on product test. Features and availability can change.

cohere.com — official reference

Sources reviewed for the September 2026 launch edition.