When discussing the reliability of AI-based systems, there’s something fundamental that doesn’t get enough attention: what’s the best format for passing tables of data to an LLM?
Should you use markdown tables or CSV?
JSON or YAML?
Or does some other format work better than any of these?
Why This Question Matters
As AI systems become integral to data analysis, business intelligence, and decision-making processes, understanding format sensitivity is crucial for:
Data Pipeline Architecture : Structuring data workflows for maximum AI comprehension
: Structuring data workflows for maximum AI comprehension Performance Optimization : Reducing processing overhead while maintaining accuracy
: Reducing processing overhead while maintaining accuracy Cost Management: Minimizing token usage and API costs in production systems
Many RAG pipelines involve ingesting documents that contain tables of data. If we’re not formatting that data in a way that it is easy for an LLM to consume, then we may be needlessly hurting the accuracy of the overall system.
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