Hybrid RAG: Keyword Plus Vector, Best of Both

Hosted by Aki Wijesundara and Manu Jayawardana

Mon, Jul 13, 2026

9:00 PM UTC (30 minutes)

Virtual (Zoom)

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AI Engineering Bootcamp & Certificate
Aki Wijesundara, PhD and Manu Jayawardana
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What you'll learn

See where each method falls down

Watch vector search miss exact terms and keyword search miss meaning, on the same set of questions.

Run both retrievers at once

Fire a keyword search and a vector search over the same data and collect results from both.

Merge the two into one ranking

Combine the result lists so precise matches and semantic matches are weighed together into a single answer set.

Why this topic matters

Vector search nails meaning but fumbles exact terms like part numbers and names, while keyword search is the reverse, and picking one means living with its blind spot. In this free 30 minute session you run both side by side over the same data, then merge their results into one ranked list so the precise match and the semantic match both count. You watch a query that pure vector search missed get rescued by the keyword leg. You leave able to build hybrid retrieval that handles exact terms and fuzzy meaning in the same query.

You'll learn from

Aki Wijesundara

AI Advisor | Educator | Google AI Accelerator Alum

Aki Wijesundara is an AI leader with a PhD in Machine Learning and extensive experience mentoring startups at Google’s AI Accelerator. With a career spanning both research and applied AI, Aki has taught 5,000+ students worldwide how to design and deploy production-ready AI systems.

He has worked across cutting-edge areas of applied AI, from LangChain and RAG pipelines to observability and large-scale deployment. As a researcher and educator, Aki bridges the gap between theory and practice, making complex systems approachable and actionable for engineers, founders, and product leaders.

Aki is also a frequent speaker and advisor to organizations adopting AI, helping them transition from experimentation to production at scale.

Manu Jayawardana

AI Founder | Co-Founder & CEO at Krybe | Co-Founder of Snapdrum

Manu Jayawardana is a serial entrepreneur with multiple AI startup successes.

He is also the Co-Founder of Snapdrum, an AI consultancy helping companies integrate and automate their businesses using AI. Through Snapdrum, Manu has worked with top startups and enterprises across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, advising on automation, product development, and AI strategy.

Currently, Manu is the Co-Founder & CEO of Krybe, an AI voice agent startup in London transforming how businesses automate customer interactions. His experience spans fundraising, scaling products, and leading teams to deliver production-grade AI solutions adopted globally.

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