Whether it is in the newspapers, on the TV or on social media, you will have seen and heard the term “AI” (Artificial Intelligence). As family historians we are entering the AI era and this will lead to more tools and ways of growing our family tree. Professional genealogist Fiona Brooker explores family history today in the AI era
You may not think you’ve been using AI, but if you’ve been online recently then it’s more than likely you’ve encountered it (even if you didn’t realise it at the time). When you are shopping and have products being recommended to you based on what you are browsing or have purchased. When you go to a website and there’s a popup option to ask questions of the friendly “person” who’s there to help you.
You are a genealogist… you are seeing the benefits of AI, even if you are not creating material using it.
Genealogy companies are using AI in bringing us records to use for our research. The creation of the searchable index for the 1950 US Census release by Ancestry is just one example (read more about the AI handwriting transcription algorithm they developed here: https://www.ancestry.com/corporate/blog/ancestry-apply-handwriting-recognition-artificial-intelligence-create-searchable-index-1950-us). Here the technology involved used AI to recognise handwriting and create a transcription for the index. This technology was then used on the 1931 Census of Canada, speeding up the process of going from digital images to a fully searchable database. Likewise, FamilySearch are using AI to transcribe their images as well: https://www.deseret. com/2023/3/18/23622262/ai-family-history-familysearch Many of the genealogy companies are also using this technology against newspaper databases to extract names and relationships. This is a phenomenal breakthrough – meaning that AI is not only returning search results for names on which you have searched, but it is also able to interpret the newspaper reports (for instance obituaries) and infer possible family members.
What is AI?
AI isn’t new, it’s been around since the 1950s, it is just now we are experiencing a growth in its use and development.
If we break the phrase Artificial Intelligence (AI) into its words, the Google Dictionary tells us:
• Artificial: “made or produced by human beings rather than occurring naturally, especially as a copy of something natural”
• Intelligence: “the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills” The AI that
