Do we really need a specialized vector database?
published on 2023/08/12
Since we see vectors as a new data type in traditional databases, let's take a look at how to support vector data types in traditional databases, using PostgreSQL as an example. pgvector is an open-source PostgreSQL plugin that supports vector data types. pgvector uses exact calculation by default, but it also supports building an IVFFlat index and precomputing ANN results using the IVFFlat algorithm, sacrificing calculation accuracy for performance.