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Develop job-relevant skills with hands-on projects
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There are 3 modules in this course
Get ready to put your generative AI engineering skills into practice! In this hands-on guided project, you’ll apply the knowledge and techniques gained throughout the previous courses in the program to build your own real-world generative AI application.
You’ll begin by filling in key knowledge gaps, such as using LangChain’s document loaders to ingest documents from various sources. You’ll then explore and apply text-splitting strategies to improve model responsiveness and use IBM watsonx to embed documents. These embeddings will be stored in a vector database, which you’ll connect to LangChain to develop an effective document retriever.
As your project progresses, you’ll implement retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) to enhance retrieval accuracy, construct a question-answering bot, and build a simple Gradio interface for interactive model responses.
By the end of the course, you’ll have a complete, portfolio-ready AI application that showcases your skills and serves as compelling evidence of your ability to engineer real-world generative AI solutions. If you're ready to elevate your career with hands-on experience, enroll today and take the next step toward becoming a confident AI engineer.
In this module, you will explore essential techniques for loading, preparing, and structuring documents to build effective retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) applications using LangChain. You will learn how to use LangChain’s document loaders to import content from various sources, apply best practices for document ingestion, and implement text-splitting strategies to enhance model responsiveness. You will also examine when and how to incorporate entire documents into prompts for optimal output. Through hands-on labs, you’ll gain practical experience by loading documents and applying text-splitting techniques in real-world scenarios.
Load Your Document from Different Sources •7 minutes
Strategies for Splitting Text for Optimal Processing •6 minutes
4 readings•Total 14 minutes
Course Overview •5 minutes
Specialization Overview •5 minutes
Best Practices for Loading Documents in LangChain Applications •3 minutes
Reading: Summary and Highlights •1 minute
2 assignments•Total 18 minutes
Practice Quiz: Different Document Loaders from LangChain•9 minutes
Practice Quiz: Text Splitter•9 minutes
3 app items•Total 110 minutes
Lab: Load Documents Using LangChain for Different Sources•60 minutes
Lab: Put Whole Document into Prompt and Ask the Model•20 minutes
Lab: Apply Text Splitting Techniques to Enhance Model Responsiveness•30 minutes
1 plugin•Total 1 minute
Helpful Tips for Course Completion•1 minute
RAG Using LangChain
Module 2•3 hours to complete
Module details
In this module, you will learn how to embed documents using watsonx’s embedding model and store these embeddings using vector databases, such as Chroma DB and FAISS. You will explore the role of embeddings in RAG pipelines, configure vector stores to manage these embeddings, and use LangChain to preprocess documents for embedding. Additionally, you will gain hands-on experience with advanced retrievers in LangChain, such as Vector Store-Based, Multi-Query, Self-Query, and Parent Document retrievers, to extract relevant information from documents efficiently. Finally, you’ll compare RAG-based approaches with fine-tuning using InstructLab to evaluate their trade-offs and applicability.
Introduction to Vector Databases for Storing Embeddings •5 minutes
Explore Advanced Retrievers in Langchain: Part 1•3 minutes
Explore Advanced Retrievers in Langchain - Part 2•5 minutes
1 reading•Total 2 minutes
Module Summary: RAG Using LangChain •2 minutes
2 assignments•Total 18 minutes
Practice Quiz: Embedding the Document•9 minutes
Practice Quiz: Retriever•9 minutes
3 app items•Total 100 minutes
Lab: Embed Documents using watsonx’s Embedding Model•30 minutes
Lab: Create and Configure a Vector Database to Store Document Embeddings•30 minutes
Lab: Develop a Retriever to Fetch Document Segments Based on Queries•40 minutes
2 plugins•Total 25 minutes
Embed Documents Using watsonx’s Embedding Model•10 minutes
Reading: Compare Fine-Tuning Using InstructLab with RAG•15 minutes
Create a QA Bot to Read Your Document
Module 3•4 hours to complete
Module details
In this module, you will combine all the components you’ve learned to build a complete generative AI application using LangChain and RAG. You’ll learn how to implement RAG to improve information retrieval, set up user interfaces using Gradio, and construct a question-answering bot that leverages LLMs and LangChain to respond to queries from loaded documents. Through hands-on labs, you’ll practice building a Gradio interface and developing your own QA bot. In the final project, you will build an AI application using RAG and LangChain. The supporting materials, like a cheat sheet and glossary, will reinforce your understanding, build confidence in your implementation skills, and assess your learning through a graded quiz. You'll leave this module with a deployable AI-powered assistant and clear the next steps for advancing your skills.
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This course is suitable for those interested in AI engineering and includes training, developing, fine-tuning, and deploying large language models (LLMs). It is the ideal project course for learners who have completed the other courses in the Specialization title: Generative AI Engineering with LLMs.
Existing and aspiring data scientists, AI engineers, and machine learning engineers will benefit greatly from completing this project.
How long does it take to complete the Specialization?
With 3–4 hours of study per week, you can complete this course and the guided project in 3 weeks. If you are able to put in more time per week, you can complete it a lot faster!
Do I need any background knowledge to complete this course successfully?
This course is intermediate level, so you must have basic knowledge of Python. Familiarity with LLMs, LangChain, and RAG would be an added advantage.However, to get the most out of this course, we recommend that you complete all the other courses in the IBM Generative AI Engineering with LLMs specialization.
Which roles can I perform after completing this course?
This course is part of the Generative AI Engineering with LLMs specialization. When you complete this course and the guided project, you will have the hands-on skills and confidence to take on jobs such as AI engineer, NLP engineer, machine learning engineer, deep learning engineer, data scientist, or software developer seeking to work with LLMs.
Do I need any specific software or tools to complete the course successfully?
Only a modern web browser is required to complete this course and all hands-on labs. You will be provided access to cloud-based environments to complete the labs at no charge.
When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?
To access the course materials, assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience when you enroll in a course. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid. The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.
What will I get if I subscribe to this Certificate?
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Certificate, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile.