Category: Education

AI Genealogy: Text to GEDCOMs: Surprises, Cautions, Discoveries

I had an opportunity today to experiment a bit more with using artificial intelligence to create family trees (GEDCOM files) from narrative texts. My goal was to see how much I could limit the AI's creativity to insert information into the GEDCOM file that wasn't in my prompt. (Earlier, I had discovered two constraints that … Continue reading AI Genealogy: Text to GEDCOMs: Surprises, Cautions, Discoveries →

AI Genealogy: Value of Trusted Critics, Skeptics

I've been an enthusiastic explorer of artificial intelligence-assisted genealogy for the past several months. My 35-plus year interests in linguistics and language, computers and programming, and genealogy and family history converged in November 2022 with the release by OpenAI of ChatGPT to create new possibilities like a supernova creates new elements such as gold, silver, … Continue reading AI Genealogy: Value of Trusted Critics, Skeptics →

AI Genealogy Tip: Don’t Get Burned by Spicy Autocomplete

I enjoyed and recommend yesterday's livestream "Genealogy & AI: Unlocking Family Secrets" by FindMyPast, featuring Jen Baldwin interviewing Blaine Bettinger. The discussion delved into the potential of AI and chatbots like ChatGPT in the field of genealogy. However, as with any powerful tool, there are potential pitfalls that genealogists should be aware of when using … Continue reading AI Genealogy Tip: Don’t Get Burned by Spicy Autocomplete →

AI Genealogy Use Case: Cleaning-up OCR Text

Highlights: Genealogists can quickly generate a cleaner copy of an old newspaper article (not a perfect final draft) from a messy OCR text dump. A carefully crafted PROMPT found and fixed 49 out of 54 errors in an newspaper OCR article text. NO HALLUCINATIONS were introduced into the response. The AI was limited to processing … Continue reading AI Genealogy Use Case: Cleaning-up OCR Text →

AI and Genealogy: Using ChatGPT to Glean Info from Obits, Articles, and Announcements

How to Extract Information from Text Sources Using Artificial Intelligence Three examples: obituary, wedding announcement, newspaper article After my discoveries last week that ChatGPT (model GPT-4) can: (1) create, read, and correctly interpret GEDCOM files, (2) create narrative reports based only on GEDCOM data, (3) match narrative style to location and setting of text, and … Continue reading AI and Genealogy: Using ChatGPT to Glean Info from Obits, Articles, and Announcements →

Artificial Intelligence and Genealogy: Using ChatGPT to Write Stories from Family Trees, Create Trees from Stories

GPT-4: A Revolutionary Tool for Genealogists and Family Historians Introduction I had fun making a couple of discoveries this week while exploring the new GPT-4. As someone with lifelong interests in the worlds of linguistics, language, computers, programming, writing, storytelling, genealogy, and family history, it has been surreal to see these interests come together, creating … Continue reading Artificial Intelligence and Genealogy: Using ChatGPT to Write Stories from Family Trees, Create Trees from Stories →

Genealogical Evidence-based Writing, Organizational Brainstorming, and ChatGPT (OpenAI’s artificial intelligence)

In my SLIG 2023 class today in Evidenced-Based Writing (Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy), we were in a session on writing preparation and organization, so when we were given ten minutes to try an organizational exercise, I thought I'd see what ChatGPT could do in ten minutes. I've been working on a research project for … Continue reading Genealogical Evidence-based Writing, Organizational Brainstorming, and ChatGPT (OpenAI’s artificial intelligence) →

Overlay Enumeration District Maps onto Modern Street Maps to Find Relatives in Census by Place

To narrow the scope of a researcher's task, overlaying an enumeration district map on top of a modern street map may enable the researcher to focus their line-by-line browsing of census page images by dramatically lessening the number of pages to review.

Reflection Journal: Week 3: Timelines, Source Citations for DNA & Documentary Sources, & File Organization

During the winter-spring of 2022, I am enrolled in the genetic genealogy course, Research Like a Pro with DNA Study Group, from the team at Family Locket of Diana Elder, Nicole Dyer, and Robin Wirthlin. A weekly reflection journal is one course component. I’m sharing mine. This week's lesson consisted of work with timelines, citations, and … Continue reading Reflection Journal: Week 3: Timelines, Source Citations for DNA & Documentary Sources, & File Organization →

Reflection Journal: Week 2: Create a Diagram of your Matches & Write a Research Objective

Introduction: Context, Assignment, and Prerogative As I move into the second week of the course, I build from last week’s work. This week, I use the assessment of our DNA matches and analysis of our pedigree from my previous efforts, and I create diagrams to visualize that information and I refine our possible research objectives. … Continue reading Reflection Journal: Week 2: Create a Diagram of your Matches & Write a Research Objective →