RAG Systems Need Content Governance

A retrieval pipeline cannot correct weak source governance. The system will faithfully retrieve outdated, duplicated, or conflicting material when the corpus allows it.

Define source authority

Assign ownership, review dates, and document status before indexing. The retrieval layer should prioritize approved and current sources.

Remove silent duplication

Near-duplicate files distort ranking and create artificial confidence. Deduplication should occur before embeddings enter the production index.

Expose citations

Users need direct evidence for generated answers. Citations also make content defects visible to the team that owns the source.