{
  "altLabels": [
    "Conversational Information Retrieval",
    "CIR"
  ],
  "definition": "A search task or interaction pattern in which users seek information through a multi-turn natural-language conversation with a search or retrieval system.",
  "derivedRelations": [
    {
      "note": "Conversational search is a dialogue-oriented form of interactive search; interactive search also includes non-conversational interactions such as faceting, browsing, and reformulation.",
      "target": "interactive-search",
      "type": "notEquivalentTo"
    },
    {
      "note": "Session search uses session context across interactions; conversational search specifically involves a conversational interface or dialogue.",
      "target": "session-search",
      "type": "notEquivalentTo"
    }
  ],
  "distinctions": [
    {
      "reason": "Conversational search centers on user-system dialogue; agentic retrieval centers on an agent controlling retrieval actions.",
      "statement": "Conversational Search is not Agentic Retrieval.",
      "target": "agentic-retrieval",
      "targetLabel": "Agentic Retrieval",
      "targetUri": "https://id.searchplex.net/agentic-retrieval/"
    },
    {
      "reason": "Conversational search is a multi-turn search interaction pattern; RAG is a generation pattern using retrieved information.",
      "statement": "Conversational Search is not Retrieval-Augmented Generation.",
      "target": "rag",
      "targetLabel": "Retrieval-Augmented Generation",
      "targetUri": "https://id.searchplex.net/rag/"
    }
  ],
  "id": "conversational-search",
  "kind": "Task",
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/",
  "links": [
    {
      "label": "Neural Approaches to Conversational Information Retrieval",
      "type": "canonicalSurvey",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.05176"
    },
    {
      "label": "Conversational Search report",
      "type": "canonicalSurvey",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.08658"
    }
  ],
  "modifiedAt": "2026-09-14T06:43:46Z",
  "prefLabel": "Conversational Search",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "Searchplex",
    "url": "https://searchplex.net/"
  },
  "relations": [
    {
      "target": "interactive-search",
      "type": "broader"
    },
    {
      "note": "Conversational search centers on user-system dialogue; agentic retrieval centers on an agent controlling retrieval actions.",
      "target": "agentic-retrieval",
      "type": "notEquivalentTo"
    },
    {
      "note": "Conversational search is a multi-turn search interaction pattern; RAG is a generation pattern using retrieved information.",
      "target": "rag",
      "type": "notEquivalentTo"
    },
    {
      "target": "agentic-retrieval",
      "type": "related"
    },
    {
      "target": "query-reformulation",
      "type": "related"
    },
    {
      "target": "rag",
      "type": "related"
    },
    {
      "target": "session-search",
      "type": "related"
    }
  ],
  "representations": {
    "html": "https://id.searchplex.net/conversational-search/",
    "json": "https://id.searchplex.net/conversational-search.json",
    "jsonld": "https://id.searchplex.net/conversational-search.jsonld"
  },
  "scheme": "https://id.searchplex.net/scheme/",
  "scopeNote": "Conversational search emphasizes dialogue, context carryover, clarification, and multi-turn interaction. It overlaps with conversational information retrieval and interactive search, but is not simply a single query or a RAG system.",
  "status": "published",
  "uri": "https://id.searchplex.net/conversational-search/"
}