Intelligent Use of AI in Family History
The purpose of this page is to present some of the benefits and difficulties of using AI to assist in the organization of information and inquiries of online applications in the family history space. The phase "intelligent use of AI" was to indicate the human assistance with AI can make the overall experience more effective and meaningful to the participant. The second purpose is to provide samples of applications that are already using AI for various features that are now available. The listing of samples merely provides the company, title, description, and link to learn more about the use of AI within the product. There is also a summary of the topics covered at the RootsTech 2024 Technology and Innovation Forum and other Classes with AI Focus. Lastly, there is a list of what the top software provider are doing to incorporate AI in their mainstream products.
10 AI terms everyone should know as defined by Susanna Ray: artificial intelligence; machine learning; large language models; generative AI; hallucinations; responsible AI; multimodal models; prompts; copilots; plugins.
AI and/or human assistance can be use in each step of the communication process by providing sample topics or questions to be asked, translating or categorizing the initial user expression, deciding what portions or the AI or information to address programmatically. After the rough answers are found AI can be used to prepare the communication for the targeted audience and person. Each phase of the communication can be qualified, acknowledge, enhanced and validated to be more appropriate, efficient and personalized. AI can me used to identify possible abusive or inappropriate questioning and take safeguards against taxing the bigger or deeper AI engine. Just like in the "Wizard of Oz" there were check points and dialogues before getting to address the wizard directly. These checkpoints and possible redirections can could be done by people or different levels and data resources of AI. Many companies use support personally to be go-betweens from the customer to the AI and the results from the AI to express the answers to the customer to assure understanding. Often the AI is used to generate the final direct communication to the customer in text, audio, graphical, and/or even animated faces with synchronized verbal facial expressions. Organizations are learning to minimize "hallucinations" by managing the questions and the use of the organized data to generate more effective responses at each stage. Below are some topical summaries of what many organizations are doing.
AI has been used for many years for language translations. Its gradually getting smarter on not just doing the translations of words, phrases, sentences, but also it taking into consideration the popularity and cultural appropriateness of the translations for the intended communications. Identify the intents and scope of the communication is helpful expecially if it is technical, social, interpersonal, or religious.
General speaking the more the appropriate data, the better will be the generation of the answers. This is especially true of data used to cover life-based biography, events of long durations with many activities, or complex technical or historical topics. In the technical arena many organizations are creating metadata categories or topics that are emphasized for the AI engine depending upon the intent or scope of the inquiry. This can be done in other mature arenas whether or not they are technical.
Assist in the Formation of the Inquiry
As mentioned many organizations have support personnel using AI on behalf of the customer. They are asking the AI engine what questions they have received verbally or in text from the customers. This makes it possible to slightly reform the question after any clarification with the customer to get a better AI dump to share with the customer. Humans interventions may be involved in more than one step of the full search and communication of the results.
Simplifying the Generation and Display of Results
AI can be used in the presentation of the information after received from the back-in engine. Different AI engines can be used for different purposes or one engine does it all. Sometimes graphical or animated effect are generated to improve the communication
Below are a few examples of organizations describing and sharing in videos, blogs, or webpages there use of AI. The user may or may not be aware of where and how AI is being used.
| EmulateMe | LivingHistory.ai | MyHeritage |
|
||
| Chat with Ancestor | LivingHistory.AI | Deep Nostalgia | PhotoDater | ||
|
EmulateMe helps you create Smart Avatars of you Ancestors in a few simple steps for emulating videos and chatting with them. |
We create custom immersive history experiences with the power of AI. Meet historical figures and ancestors. Have lifelike conversations with them. Explore their world and artifacts. | Animate the faces in your family photos with amazing technology. | This uses AI technology to estimate when historical photos were taken, is now available on the MyHeritage mobile app and on the Reimagine app. It's also available when using a mobile web browser. | ||
| Video | Video | Video | Video |
| MyHeritage | nouri | MyHeritage | MyHeritage |
| Time Machine | NouriSocial.com | AI Record Finder | AI Biographer |
| Create stunning AI avatars and travel through history |
The only event platform that builds a Community and facilitates networking! Gamify your event, ai-enabled connections, chat with attendees, vendors, sponsors and employees. |
The world's first search engine for historical records based on AI chat. | Create a Wikipedia-like biography for any acestor using AI, enriched with historical context |
| Video | Video | WebPage | Blog |
| Mylio Photos | Storied | BYU Library | Straker |
| Photo AI | Storytelling AI | The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Genealogy | Language Cloud AI |
| Mylio Photos uses AI to analyze images as they are imported. All analysis happens on a local device with no transfer to remote servers for increased privacy. The content of the photo is indexed for thousands of different activities, environments, and subjects. Additional qualitative analysis of the image is done for options like eyes closed, no smiles. blurriness, exposure, and more. These tags can be used for Search as well as quickly filtering results to locate specific imagery. When combined with face recognition and syncing of key metadata with FamilySearch, truly robust results are achieved. |
Embark on a new era of storytelling with Storied. Let the fascinating world of AI help you craft your family stories using StoryAssist™ built right into the Storied platform. Explore the innovative feature that breathes life into your narratives, making the process of writing family histories more dynamic and engaging. Discover how artificial intelligence can be your creative ally in preserving and sharing the richness of your family's unique journey. Unlock the potential of AI in storytelling – where tradition meets technology! |
James Tanner shares that Artificial Intelligence has been in the news lately because of some recent chatbot developments. Some of the news expresses concerns about the danger of AI to the future of mankind. These concerns date back to a book by Samuel Butler entitled Erewhone published in 1872. Watch this video about the impact of AI on genealogy with some comments about what can actually be expected. | We help you boost your business productivity through open communication on a global scale with LanguageCloud—a software that improves market speed and lowers costs. Learn how you can let your ideas flow freely without language barriers |
| Video | Video | Video | Webpage |
Thursday, 3:00 PM on the main stage (https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/session/innovation-and-tech-forum-2024) is focused on AI advancements and the future of AI in our industry, and includes the following:
Featured Speaker: Jared Spataro, Corporate VP from Microsoft who oversees the businesses that will use AI to improve the workplace. Jared will share an overview of Generative AI, several examples of AI implementations and how they currently can impact the industry. He will wrap up with an overview of the near future for AI.
Jon Morey from FamilySearch will represent FamilySearch at the Innovation and Technology forum. Jon will presenting on our Generative AI Tree Construction.
Living History will follow Jon, and will cover their immersive history experiences that are created using the power of AI – meet and talk with historical figures and ancestors, and have lifelike conversations with them. You can even explore their historical worlds and see artifacts, and interact with these virtual worlds – think of a virtual Time Machine.
Storied.com is one of our Platinum sponsors of RootsTech and will share the following: Biography Graph Extraction Technology (BGET): Biographical Graph Extraction Technology is a next generation process that uses AI and Large Language Models to identify all of the people mentioned in a biography or family history, extract events about these people (such as birth, marriage, and death dates and places) and then create a graph of all of the relationships between each person mentioned. The output from this analysis can be visualized in a graph or tree form. Tens of thousands of these books exist and are underutilized as a valuable source for family history research. StoryAssist v2: Storied released StoryAssist, its AI-based story-writing assistant at RootsTech in 2023. Now, we’ve been hard at work enhancing StoryAssist to help you improve and refine your stories, shorten or lengthen your stories, and interview you about key points that could benefit from more detail. You can optionally also ask StoryAssist to include contextual historical information to augment your storytelling experience.
Emulate.me will present how they also help people chat with their ancestors with just a few clicks by uploading information from their family tree @ FamilySearch. Our AI-based solution strengthens relationships with our roots like never before. That's why we would really like to present it at RootsTech 2024!
Storii.com will be presenting a solution that allows you to record your loved ones' memories and voice with Storii. Storii sends calls asking curated questions about your life, giving users up to 10 minutes to record their answer. Recordings are transcribed and stored to a keepsake profile, where family members can access transcriptions and download recordings as an audiobook keepsake. Storii works with any phone number, (including landlines!) making it an ideal gift for any parent or grandparent and without the need for the internet or modern devices. Current AI Usage:
Ancestry.com, another Platinum Sponsor will be presenting a number of the AI advancements over the recent past ranging from technology to bring records from capture to the user quickly, to the innovations with hints and their Shaky Leaf, advancements in DNA and connection to trees and tree building wrapping up their presentation with several products that they will launch in the near future.
Classes on Thursday, Feb 29th
Five Tools for your AI Genealogy Toolbox, Feb 29th 8 AM (In Person only)
https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/session/five-tools-for-your-ai-genealogy-toolbox
Growing Your Family Tree on MyHeritage with the Latest Features, Feb 29th 9:30 AM (In Person Only)
https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/session/growing-your-family-tree-on-myheritage-with-the-latest-features
What’s New at Ancestry® in 2024, Feb 29th, 1:30 PM (in person and online), probably will have some AI advancements, I would recommend checking this out after the conference since it is available online. The presenter, Krista Cowan, is on the cutting edge of Ancestry’s user-focused tools for intermediate to advanced genealogists
https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/session/whats-new-at-ancestry-2023
Using Artificial Intelligence Tools to Expand Your Genealogical Research Universe: Part 1 Feb 29th, 1:30 PM (In Person Only)
https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/session/using-artificial-intelligence-tools-to-expand-your-genealogical-research-universe-part-1
Innovation and Tech Forum at 3 PM (outlined above in greater detail), this is available online, and can be viewed later as the next class happens at the same time – it is probably the one “Don’t miss this session” opportunity.
Using Artificial Intelligence Tools to Expand Your Genealogical Research Universe: Part 2 Feb 29, 3:00 PM (in person only)
https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/session/using-artificial-intelligence-tools-to-expand-your-genealogical-research-universe-part-2
Using Artificial Intelligence Tools to Expand Your Genealogical Research Universe: Part 3 Feb 29th, 4:30 PM (in person only)
https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/session/using-artificial-intelligence-tools-to-expand-your-genealogical-research-universe-part-3
Using AI (tools like ChatGPT) to Help You with Your Family History Feb 29th, 4:30 PM (in person only)
https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/session/using-ai-tools-like-chatgpt-to-help-you-with-your-family-history
Ethics in the Family History Community: Town Hall Discussion Feb 29th, 4:30 PM (in person only), I am sure there will be Q&A on AI in this session, and I know David Rencher is planning on speaking to that
https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/session/ethics-in-the-family-history-community-town-hall-discussion
How to use AI for Family History Experiences March 1, 8:30 AM (online only)
https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/session/how-to-use-ai-for-family-history-experiences
Telling Your Family’s Story with MyHeritage’s AI Features March 1, 12 PM (online only)
https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/session/telling-your-familys-story-with-myheritages-ai-features
FamilySearch + Storied: A Dynamic Duo for Family History Enthusiasts March 1, 1:30 PM (online and in person)
https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/session/familysearch-storied-a-dynamic-duo-for-family-history-enthusiasts
The Latest MyHeritage News from Founder & CEO Gilad Japhet March 1, 1:30 PM (in person only)
https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/session/the-latest-myheritage-news-from-founder-ceo-gilad-japhet
Uncovering Family History with MyHeritage’s AI Tools March 1, 4:30 PM (online and in person)
https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/session/leveraging-myheritage-dna-tools-to-make-the-most-of-your-results
Uncovering Family History with MyHeritage’s AI Tools March 1, 4:30 PM (online and in person)
https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/session/leveraging-myheritage-dna-tools-to-make-the-most-of-your-results
AI and Genealogy: Trouble Ahead? March 1, 4:30 PM (online only), probably a good one if you want the point of view of a traditional genealogist and the worries that they have, and how they might resist this technological advancement
https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/session/ai-and-genealogy-trouble-ahead
Classes on Saturday March 2:
AI-Assisted Genealogy: The Family History of the Future March 2, 9:30 AM (In person only)
https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/session/ai-assisted-genealogy-the-family-history-of-the-future
Top Software Providers
|
Adobe Sensei AI GitHub Copilot Google AI – Making AI helpful for everyone Google Gemini IBM WatsonX Enterprise AI |
Linkedin AI Tools Linkedin Learning - Generative AI for Business Leaders Microsoft Copilot SalesForce Artificial Intelligence |