Instacart’s Ads Retrieval Goes Generative, Spelling Out Recommendations
Instacart replaced its BERT‑based scoring retriever with a generative model that “spells” ad candidates token‑by‑token using proprietary Semantic IDs. The shift turns retrieval into a next‑token prediction task, cutting latency and delivering more relevant ads for shoppers. This redesign bridges the gap between ad relevance and real‑time performance.