Efficient index lookup using language-agnostic vectors and context vectors

Abstract

Technology is described herein for searching an index, including operations of: obtaining a source data item; generating a source context-supplemented vector based on the source data item; and searching the index to find one or more target context-supplemented vectors that are determined to match the source context-supplemented vector. Each context-supplemented vector, which is associated with a particular data item, is made up of two parts: a language-agnostic vector and a context vector. The language-agnostic vector expresses the meaning of the particular data item in a manner that is independent of a natural language that is used to express the particular data item, while the context vector expresses a context associated with the formation of the particular data item. More generally, the technology's use of context vectors allows it to perform index search operations in a more efficient manner, compared to a search engine that does not use context vectors.