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November 14, 2025
This lecture covers:
• Retrieval-augmented generation
• Advanced RAG techniques
• Function calling
• Agents
• ReAct framework
To follow along with the course schedule and syllabus, visit: https://cme295.stanford.edu/syllabus/
Chapters:
00:00:00 Introduction
00:06:38 RAG overview
00:27:39 Similarity search with SBERT and bi-encoders
00:34:25 Heuristic search with BM25
00:37:54 HyDE and contextual retrieval
00:41:00 Prompt caching
00:45:24 Re-ranking with cross-encoders
00:47:49 Retrieval evaluation with NDCG, MRR
00:59:28 Tool calling
01:26:22 Tool selection
01:29:17 Model Context Protocol (MCP)
01:31:56 Agents with ReAct
01:42:16 Safety and closing thoughts
Afshine Amidi is an Adjunct Lecturer at Stanford University.
Shervine Amidi is an Adjunct Lecturer at Stanford University.
View the course playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoROMvodv4rOCXd21gf0CF4xr35yINeOy