Using AI for searching your ancestors

I’m not sure I’d want AI to do the hard work. Half the fun of doing my family tree was piecing everything together. Although I do admit it took almost 20 years to complete 😁

Alwaysoptumistic

I’m not sure I’d want AI to do the hard work. Half the fun of doing my family tree was piecing everything together. Although I do admit it took almost 20 years to complete 😁

I agree. It took me many years to discover where my 3xgreat grandfather died. I was so pleased with myself when I solved the puzzle.

Whitewavemark2 which AI do you use?

Alwaysoptumistic I've been doing mine for that long too, but I think it will never actually be finished!

I’ve been researching ancestry for 25 years now. At night when there is nothing to watch that is what I do. Most nights these days !

What AI are you using, Wwmk2?

Are you formulating your queries yourself, or is it something that has been developed for genealogists?

There are so many warnings about AI making things up, how do you know its got the answer right?

MaizieD

What AI are you using, Wwmk2?

Are you formulating your queries yourself, or is it something that has been developed for genealogists?

There are so many warnings about AI making things up, how do you know its got the answer right?

CHAT GPT.

I ask it the question. You’ve got to ask the “right” question, but you soon work that out.

It does the work in about 10/secs. I have been looking at my ancestors from Howarth who were weavers snd a very common name which I haven’t been able to untangle for years.

I agree that half the pleasure is doing the work yourself, but getting absolutely stuck the it is a great help, by giving you pointers.

To verify it you can then check yourself but the information is now there to hand.

Have you listened to the latest TRIP? Really worth a listen. Stewart is talking with a chap from GCHQ who advises the government. Fascinating!

I’ve been using ChatGPT to design my garden. It’s brilliant. Will it mean the end of Google?

Do you download an app for ChatGPT or just type it in Google?

Oh my goodness WWM I can't believe the strange and amazing details I've discovered!
I wouldn't have thought of using AI to search for me!

What do I ask it to get some information on my ancestors?

Lovetopaint037

Do you download an app for ChatGPT or just type it in Google?

If you google it you can find the Ghatgpt website. There is a free version which you can register for. If you register it will save all your ‘chats’, but there’s a time restriction on some of its functions. However I’m sure that any genealogy stuff won’t be affected by that. There is a paid for ‘pro’ version too. I believe it has more functions and may have more up to date data.

But do check its sources carefully. AI is renowned for ‘hallucination’ (making things up’

I just asked Gemini.
Quite extraordinary- but it doesn't save the info.
You have to keep narrowing down your questions to get interesting answers

Ive been researching my ancestry for a few years now, using ancestry and Scotlands people.I don't think I would use A1,

Using AI to search for your ancestors is honestly one of the cooler ways tech is being used right now. It takes something that used to be super slow and kind of frustrating - digging through old records, archives, handwritten documents - and makes it way more accessible.
Platforms like Ancestry or MyHeritage already use AI to scan and match historical records, suggest family connections, and even clean up old photos. What used to take months of research can now happen in minutes. That’s a big shift.
Is it perfect? Of course not. AI can make guesses that look convincing but are actually wrong - especially when records are incomplete or names are common. You still need a bit of skepticism and, ideally, some manual checking. Otherwise, you might end up believing you’re related to royalty when it’s just a coincidence.
There’s also the privacy angle. When you upload personal data or DNA (like with 23andMe), you’re trusting companies with sensitive information. That’s something people don’t always think through.
Overall, though, it’s a solid use of Artificial Intelligence - practical, interesting, and actually meaningful for a lot of people. It turns family history from a niche hobby into something almost anyone can explore.

I did a lot of my family history 20+ years ago when you did indeed have to sit in libraries ferreting through microfiches, consulting local directories and parish records and visiting far away local records offices and Kew where you got to handle enormous old tomes listing births, deaths and marriages.

I am descended from two slightly unusual names (Irish and Kent UK) and I just tried asking GoogleAI and Chatgpt and what I got was references from the usual organisations who have been out there for years, Ancestry, Find My Past and so on. I don't want to put people off and I'd be interested to see the first set of questions inserted in the AI search.

There are many concerns about misinformation now and something that began to happen as records were digitised is that people rushed to grab at names and dates without checking for accuracy or understanding that records were often falsified, names would be repeated in families through ancestral lines so you had to be clear who you were referring to and names would also be interchangeable, first name as well as surname might be changed in everyday parlance and repeated in the records.

I spent time chasing a chap called Moses who I thought had a brother called Aidan only to discover that they were one and the same. Similarly, both surnames in my ancestry have multiple spellings with small variations - a is inserted instead of o and the (Irish) suffix is ...henry or ...harris. I'm sure we all know about the connection between previous occupation and surname. Digital records are only as good as the person who transcribed the original record and then uploaded it to a database.

Whitewavemark2

MaizieD

What AI are you using, Wwmk2?

Are you formulating your queries yourself, or is it something that has been developed for genealogists?

There are so many warnings about AI making things up, how do you know its got the answer right?

CHAT GPT.

I ask it the question. You’ve got to ask the “right” question, but you soon work that out.

It does the work in about 10/secs. I have been looking at my ancestors from Howarth who were weavers snd a very common name which I haven’t been able to untangle for years.

I agree that half the pleasure is doing the work yourself, but getting absolutely stuck the it is a great help, by giving you pointers.

To verify it you can then check yourself but the information is now there to hand.

Have you listened to the latest TRIP? Really worth a listen. Stewart is talking with a chap from GCHQ who advises the government. Fascinating!

You don't happen to have any Uttleys, Illingworths or Pickles, do you? It's not surprising they were weavers - just about everybody in that region was in the 19th century.