Exciting News: I’ve Started a YouTube Channel!
I’m thrilled to share that I’ve started my own YouTube channel focusing on genealogy, with a special focus on AI and DNA! (I’m still working on the perfect tagline.) My first two videos focus on the fascinating world of AI.
AI in Genealogy: A Follow-Up Discussion
In the first video, Blaine Bettinger, Steve Little, Mark Thompson, and I reunited to discuss some of the questions raised in our panel discussion during the NGS plenary session.
We covered five key questions:
- What is one of your top AI tool recommendations for genealogy?
- How can my content still be my content, and how can others recognize it as being my content, if I’m incorporating AI-generated content?
- What are some of the implications of utilizing AI to create realistic images of ancestors or historical events or locations throughout history?
- How do we improve accuracy and reduce bias in AI-generated genealogical data?
- What is one of your favorite AI resources to keep up to date and understand the uses of artificial intelligence, particularly with regard to genealogy?
ChatGPT’s Script of Our Panel Discussion
I prompted ChatGPT to “Create a usable transcript of this YouTube video. Make it look like the script for a movie.” To my delight, it generated an engaging script complete with an opening scene, voiceovers, smiles, nods, and other actions. Here’s a snippet from the opening section:
[Opening Scene: A cozy virtual conference room, four genealogy experts seated around a digital table]
Narrator (V.O.): “Welcome, everyone. Thank you for joining us. As you may know, we recently held a plenary session at The National Genealogical Society Conference 2024. We discussed the use of AI in genealogical research, exploring various aspects of this technology. Unfortunately, an hour wasn’t nearly enough time to cover everything we wanted to discuss. So, we’ve come together today to continue that conversation and address some of the questions and concepts we couldn’t cover.”
[Cut to Blaine, smiling at the camera]
Blaine: “Before we dive in, I want to thank NGS for the opportunity to have this session. You can still access that session and other conference sessions by purchasing access through the link we’ll provide in the notes.”
[Camera pans to Dana, who nods in agreement]
Dana: “Absolutely. Now, let’s jump into some of the topics we wanted to cover. One of the first questions we had was about top AI tool recommendations for genealogy. Blaine, do you want to start?”
[Blaine leans forward, thoughtful]
Blaine: “Sure. Interestingly, the phrase ‘for genealogy’ might throw people off. I use AI tools for various tasks, not strictly genealogical research. For example, I use ChatGPT to help understand complex concepts or generate analogies. It helps me express ideas in ways I might not have thought of. What about you, Dana?”
[Dana smiles]
Dana: “Like you, Blaine, I don’t use AI specifically for research but for assistance in other tasks. ChatGPT and Claude are my go-to tools. ChatGPT is great for tech help, while Claude feels more natural for writing. I also love using ChatGPT for generating images, as some of you might have seen on my social media.”
[Mark jumps in, animated]
Mark: “I’m with you both. These tools are imminently transferable. One way I recommend using multiple models at once is through the Chatbot Arena, where you can compare responses from different models. It helps to see which model works best for a given prompt.”
[Steve, smiling, adds his thoughts]
Steve: “Great points. If I had to spend money on one tool, it would be ChatGPT. Custom GPTs are game-changers for repetitive tasks like obituary analysis or summarization. I also like using Perplexity for an AI-enhanced search experience.”
Narrator (V.O.): “Fast forward to the end of our discussion…”
[The camera pulls back, showing all four experts smiling]
Blaine: “Well, that’s it for today. Thank you all for joining us. Please leave a comment with your thoughts and any questions you have. We appreciate all you do for the field and enjoyed this discussion.”
[The screen fades to black, ending with a text overlay: “Thank you for watching. Stay tuned for more insights on AI and genealogy.”]
Clarification: How I Use AI for Research-Related Tasks
In the panel discussion, I mentioned that I don’t use AI specifically for genealogical research, I want to clarify that I do use it for many research-related tasks. For example, I often ask AI to transcribe documents, summarize information, and extract and organize data. I also use AI to analyze and create tables of data.
AI tools have become a constant part of my day, helping me with both genealogical work and daily tasks. AI allows me to work more efficiently and effectively, allowing me time to spend more time focusing on the things I love.
Getting Started with ChatGPT: A Step-by-Step Guide
The second video is a step-by-step guide to using ChatGPT, one of the most popular and powerful AI tools available. This video is perfect for anyone looking to get started with AI. I give a quick tour of ChatGPT, pointing out where to find things and explaining what each part does.
Up until recently, the free version of ChatGPT used the 3.5 language model. But now, ChatGPT gives you access to the incredible version 4 model completely FREE! If you’ve tried ChatGPT before and were disappointed (or confused), I highly recommend giving ChatGPT 4 a shot. I hope you will see how powerful it is!
Upcoming Content
I’ve got an exciting new video coming out in the next few days, so stay tuned! Check out my channel, and if there’s a specific topic you’d like me to cover in a future video, please leave a comment on this blog post or my YouTube channel. I’d love to hear your ideas and suggestions!
I’m glad to see this developing! Iit will keep you plenty busy–but what fun!
Thanks, Sandra. It will keep me busy, but I love it! 🙂
Dana
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Can you tell me if it is possible to ask Dana a question in this forum about my trying to use the leeds method for an adopted family member? Thanks!
Hi, Chris. Yes, you can! I’m happy to answer questions. I was traveling, but I’m home now. So my response should be quicker.
Dana
Hi Dana, I have two questions.
Hi Dana,
I watched your online video about using the Leeds Method. I have this done on an excel spreadsheet. I merged all the groups I discussed below.
This leaves me down to two groups/clusters, one is my uncle’s dad’s mom line “Furman”. One is my uncle’s mom’s dad’s line “Allison”. Should be a Hutchins and a Stone cluster for his other grandparents.
I feel the lilac cluster could possibly he the Stone line but maybe, not sure.
Ok, so I have overlap. I am thinking I should merge the green with the pink (light) although the lead person in the pink does not match with green and one other pink person does not match with green, all the other pinks do match with green. So I will probably put all the pink guys into the green cluster. I do recognize several as being on my uncle’s paternal grandparents’ side.
So, next I am looking at the light blue cluster. All match the green cluster except for the lead person, so I am going to put all of them into the green group also.
So, looking at the orange cluster, there are 25 and all but four matches the yellow cluster. So should I merge them with the yellow group? The orange cluster is possibly a great grandparent cluster as I recognize three of them with the name of Hendrick being a great grandparent of my uncles. Also to keep a back note of is a person with maybe a maiden name of Firman. (interesting to note as this line and the yellow appears to be on my uncle’s mother’s grandparent line) But the Firman name is on my uncles fathers grandparent line only usually spelled Furman but have seen variations of the name in my researching.
I have a light green cluster with only one person, the lead. But the last name is Hendrick so feel it is a great grandparent line again on my uncles mothers’ grandparents line. I can probably merge this one into the yellow also.
Ok, so looking at the light purple (lilac) cluster, there are 10 people, all match the yellow cluster except the the lead person and one more person. So should I merge them into the yellow cluster? I feel the lilac cluster could represent great grandparents or great great even on my uncles mothers grandparents’ line due to some looking around I did. Possibly could be Stone/Wooldridge line grandparent or great grandparent.
Looking at my bright pink/purple color, there are five of these. Three match the green cluster, two don’t match any other colors, one is of those is the lead. I feel though this could be a great grandparent line, not sure. So do I merge this with the green, went ahead and did it.
Looking at my last color, blue, 17 are blue, all but four match the yellow cluster. Several also match orange but four do not match. I also recognized some to poss be the Hendrick or Flannagan name I know these are on my uncles mothers grandparents side. Should I merge these also to yellow? Went ahead and did it.
So got rid of seven clusters, left with two. I had gut feeling would only end up with three as one of my uncle’s lines have been a huge brick wall for me for many years but now looks like I ended up with two clusters so I am a bit confused. So does this mean I have no dna matches to help me with the other two lines?
I do have a huge brick wall on the Hutchins side, uncles fathers fathers line.
Also how do you know whether the person is matching my uncles paternal grandmother or paternal grandfather? The line that is my brick wall is the Hutchins line, uncle’s father’s direct line. Have done a BigY test, two matches diff surnames though and MRCA is most likely mid 1600’s. Thanks. This is my first question lol, hard line I am researching. My second involves my adopted niece’s line. That is for another day.
Thanks for any insight 😉
Hi, Chris. I’m having some website trouble, and talking with a specialist today. But I’m not getting notifications of comments – among other issues. If you could email me this question, and include an image of your Leeds Method chart, I’m happy to give some quick feedback.
c.wileman@yahoo.com