More AI for Genealogy
In response to requests from attendees, we’re having a follow-up to our recent webinar on using AI for genealogy.
We will cover:
- More detailed prompt suggestions and a discussion of using AI chat for genealogy problem-solving and analysis—while keeping in mind the limitations of AI.
- Non-English example of transcription and translation.
- Short case studies based on actual documents and transcriptions.
As always, our presentation will be practical and easy-to-follow. We assume you already know basic genealogy terminology and methodology. Enhancing sound genealogy practices is our prime directive, not being easily impressed by every new bit of shiny technology.
Handout included so listeners can focus on understanding and not on taking notes.
Order now for immediate download
Using AI’s ChatGPT for Genealogy (Responsibly)
There’s a lot of fun and learning you can do without every creating made up stories. AI is one tool that can really help with your research. We’ll avoid the hype and leave that to others!
We’ll use chatbotapp.ai. We will focus on responsibly and creatively using ChatGPT for genealogy with a focus on sound genealogy methodology. Our presentation will be practical, down-to-earth, and usable. There’s more to using AI than simply having it generate a family history. That’s not what will we do in this presentation.
We will look at a variety of ways to use the chatbot to interact with: transcriptions of individual records, groups and sets of transcribed records, PDF scans of records (typed and handwritten) biographies, other genealogical records as time allows. We will focus on using the Chatbot as a research assistant and virtual colleague and not a glorified Google search by an effective creation of questions and by actually interacting with the Chatbot instead of reacting to it. We will see how to formulate questions to have the Chatbot perform mundane tedious tasks, create summaries and tables, serve as an online genealogical assistant, and more. The Chatbot will transcribe documents and while imperfect, discussions can be had with the Chatbot to improve the transcription. We will not be discussing using a Chatbot to automatically create a family history or create histories. Our focus will be on using the Chatbot for assistance with other genealogical tasks. We’ll show numerous examples of prompts and ChatGPT conversations.
Order a recording of the presentation and handout for $18
Full-Text Search at FamilySearch
comments:
“really enjoyed the presentation”
“shouldn’t have been searching when you were talking”
Learn clever search techniques!
We’re excited to offer this completely new (September 2025) and revised presentation on the full-text searching at FamilySearch. We’ve redesigned our presentation as this functionality continues to change. And…we’re adding an extensive handout complete with forms to help you find more people. Your purchase includes: A two-hour presentation you can view as often as you want. Extensive handout with charts and forms to help organize your searches. Charts and forms sent as separate files you can edit and customize and not as a locked PDF you have to re-create yourself as a new document. What we will be doing: Determining what is in Full-Text Search—what you can access at home and what you will have to be in a FamilySearch facility or affiliate to access. Seeing How AI transcriptions are different—they aren’t like the transcriptions made by humans. That can change your approach. Remembering that Full-Text means every word—approaches need to differ as we aren’t looking up a name in an index any more. Determining who is in the record. We aren’t just searching for the main person like we did with traditional indexes. We’ll discuss how to determine who could be mentioned in a record. Determining how to search. There are a variety of ways to search and filter results. We’ll see how each one works to help determine the best strategy. Creating search strategies—how full-text search changes your approach and why just dumping terms in search boxes is not always effective. Determing what you found. The interface does not make this clear. We will show you how to get beyond the confusion. Problem-solving—what to do when you cannot find something you want. Demonstrating practical new examples—completely new people and families from our previous presentations. Order today for immediate download for only $40. |
