Intent is the thing: Dom Couldwell’s case for a different kind of enterprise search

At OpenSearchCon Europe 2026, Dom Couldwell argued that effective enterprise search must move beyond simple keywords to address user intent across three levels: query, journey, and product intent. He advocates for a hybrid approach that balances powerful vector search with interpretable lexical search to overcome the high costs, latency, and opacity associated with "vector-only" models. Ultimately, the success of a search system depends on building user trust through explainable, consistent, and transparent results.