I had great fun putting the final touches on the new Perplexity AI webinar yesterday. The best way, in my opinion, to use AI is to treat it as a research intern or assistant that needs direction. It’s a tool like anything else and not necessarily appropriate for every task…but it does have some uses. But it’s not going to solve all your genealogy problems nor is it going to do your research for you. Nothing will do that and don’t let anyone tell you they have the “trick” that always works. There’s no such thing. Details of our new Perplexity presentation are here.
Before querying that database, before hitting “search” on that website, and before typing names into a search box, there are things you need to know about what you are searching. What exactly are you searching when querying this database? Is it just a database of main names in a set of records? Is it an index to every name? Is it a complete transcription? Will you be able to see actual images of the record as well as a database or index entry? Is the data complete–or are parts missing? How do searches actually work–do you know whether you can use wildcards, Boolean operators, and the like? Knowing the answers to these questions will allow you to more effectively search.
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