RAG systems retrieve documents based on semantic similarity. But operational decisions require structured evidence chains, not similarity scores. When a quality engineer asks "what caused the deviation in Line 3 last Tuesday?", a RAG system retrieves the most semantically similar documents — which may include deviations from different lines, different dates, or different facilities. In regulated operations, this is not just unhelpful — it is dangerous. Governed operational intelligence requires contextual retrieval that understands operational topology, temporal relationships, and evidence lineage.
Why RAG Breaks Operationally
Retrieval-augmented generation promises context. In regulated operations, it delivers confusion.