Traditional vs. AI based Genealogical Research

 When I completed my Master's Thesis at the University of Utah in 1970, the university library still had a paper-based card catalog. https://collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=2286246&hl=James%20l.%20tanner

It took me months to write and type the 39 page thesis. Jump to today. I can research and write hundreds of pages in that same time. Doing research with a paper card catalog was (and still is) ponderously tedious. There wasn't any part of research back then that was not tedious, especially reading rolls of microfilm. 

 It could take me an entire day to read one roll of microfilm. I can now search the entire collection of processed records in a few minutes using the FamilySearch.org Full-text search. 

Now, what is the point? I work in a modern completely computerized library. With the advent of AI, I can do as much research in an hour as it would have taken me months. However, there are still people coming to the library with mountains of paper in rolling suitcases. They tediously copy records out by hand and write reams of paper notes. They ignore full-text search and barely know that Ancestry.com and MyHeritage.com exist. No matter how much I write, no matter how many videos I make, and no matter how much time I spend teaching people about how to use online resources (including AI) there always seems to be an endless number of people who are doing genealogy the same way I did it more than fifty years ago. 

Now, let's not get all huffy and start blaming old people. I work with a lot of students at the university who are almost at the same level of lack of skills that I see in some older people. Granted I also work with some amazingly expert researchers and I also meet some amazing students, but it makes me sad to talk to people who not only lack the skills but are not interested in learning. 

Right now, with Google Gemini and Gemini Guided Learning, you or anyone can learn anything for what is essentially free. All you need is to expend time and effort. Here is how the free version works.

General Free Users: You can access Guided Learning mode through the "Tools" or "Activities" menu in the Gemini app or web interface. It allows you to start a learning session on almost any topic (e.g., "Teach me how to use the new features in FamilySearch").

Student Offer: There is a specific promotion running through April 30, 2026, where college students (18+) can get a free 12-month Google AI Pro plan. This version includes "expanded" access to Guided Learning, higher usage limits for the more advanced Gemini 3.1 Pro model, and deeper research capabilities.

Limitations: While the feature is free, the "intensity" is capped. Free users primarily use the Gemini 3 Flash model for these sessions. If you are doing deep, multi-hour research or complex technical analysis (similar to the dictionary work you did at the U of U), you might hit "cooldown" periods where the AI reverts to a more basic response mode until your daily quota resets.

What is your excuse? 

FamilySearch enters the world of generative AI

 

https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree-designs/global/?cid=EM-00045942&lid=kpa5y1037boe

With a lot of the possible designs, FamilySearch has apparently created an AI generation using your information from your part of the FamilySearch.org family tree. You will probably find the link on the FamilySearch.org website when you log in. Here are a few more examples. 

See you at RootsTech. 

Relatives at RootsTech 2026 now open

 

Based on the information for the 2026 conference, the Relatives at RootsTech 2026 experience has opened early to allow attendees to start finding cousins before the main event (March 5–7, 2026). The app officially became available for users on February 13, 2026, and will remain active until March 31, 2026. 

Here is the information you requested for participating in this year's experience:

1. Register: You must be registered for the RootsTech 2026 conference (virtual registration is free).
2. Access the Tool:
   • Mobile App: Download or open the FamilySearch Tree app on your iPhone. Click the "Relatives at RootsTech" banner at the top of the screen.
   • Website: Go to FamilySearch.org/connect and sign in.
3. Opt In: Click to opt into the experience to begin scanning for your relatives. 

Can you tell if something is AI generated?

 The three images above show similar winter scenes of aspen trees. Looking at them, which one do you think is AI-generated, and which one came from my camera (specifically, my iPhone 17)? Are they all generated, or are they all original photos? What do you think?

There are many YouTube videos claiming to offer foolproof ways to identify AI-generated images. While it is certainly possible to detect AI by examining the underlying code, doing so from a practical, visual standpoint is becoming increasingly difficult—if not nearly impossible. This is especially true when comparing AI to images taken with late-model cameras that use sophisticated internal settings and computational adjustments.

To test your eye, I will reveal that one of these images was taken with my iPhone, one was generated by Google Gemini, and the third was created using Adobe Photoshop.

Paragraph One

I am aware of the controversy that is raging across the academic community in all levels about the use or abuse of AI.  There are persuasive arguments on both sides: the adoption of AI wholesale or banning it completely from the academic setting. However, just as with the three images, it the AI is as sophisticated as Google Gemini, there is no real way to tell whether writing was generated by AI or written by me or someone else without using AI. One reason for this is that I use Google's spell and grammar checker. To the extent that these Google tools employ AI, everything I write in my blogs has been altered by AI at least as to spelling and my propensity to drop out words. 

Paragraph Two

There is currently a significant debate raging across the academic community regarding the use, or potential abuse, of AI. On one side, you have the early adopters who believe we should embrace these tools wholesale to speed up the tedious parts of our work. On the other, there are those who argue for banning AI entirely from academic and historical settings to preserve "authenticity."

What do you think?

The genealogical landscape is shifting beneath our feet, and it’s doing so at a pace that can feel a bit dizzying for those of us who remember the days of cranking microfilm readers in dimly lit archives. For decades, the "gold standard" of research was defined by the physical trail—hand-written notes, photocopies of census records, and the slow, methodical process of manual verification. But today, the conversation has moved from the filing cabinet to the cloud, and specifically, to the role of Artificial Intelligence in our research and writing.

This is largely because the transition to AI isn't always a deliberate "choice" to let a machine write for us; it’s baked into the tools we already trust. For instance, as I mentioned above, I rely heavily on Google’s spelling and grammar checkers. To the extent that these tools employ AI to suggest better phrasing or catch my tendency to drop words when I’m typing too fast, nearly everything I publish has been touched by AI.

The challenge for the modern family historian isn't to fear the technology, but to master it while maintaining our traditional standards for accuracy and sourcing. If you’re ready to integrate these tools into your workflow without losing your "genealogical soul," here is how I recommend approaching it:

• View AI as an Editor, Not an Author: Use tools like Gemini or specialized grammar checkers to clean up your prose and catch those pesky typos, but ensure the underlying facts and citations remain your own.

• Verify the Source Material: Never let an AI summarize a record for you without checking the original image. AI can hallucinate dates or names; your eyes on the original document remain the final authority.

• Be Transparent: If you use AI to significantly restructure a family history narrative, a simple footnote or disclaimer is a great way to maintain the integrity of your work, much like we cite our traditional sources.

We are entering an era where the "how" of our writing is changing, but the "why"—the pursuit of truth in our family lines—must remain the same. The tools are getting smarter, and it’s our job to ensure our research methods keep pace.

Obviously this blog post contains AI generated text. By the way the middle photo came from my iPhone the other two were generated by gemini, the top photo, and Photoshop, the bottom photo. Paragraphe Two is a rewrite of the first paragraph by Gemini as are the rest of my ideas in the last paragraphs. I use Google Gems to draft prompts that incorporate my own style and tone of writing. Google has over 6000 examples of my blog posts to work from. 

In just three short years, AI has become so pervasive as be ubiquitous. There is really to way to avoid it. As far as the academic community is involved in this AI revolution, they will either figure out ways to teach in the AI world or disappear as irrelevant. 

285 million Spanish newspaper stories added to MyHeritage

Discover Stories of Your Spanish Ancestors: Names and Stories from Newspapers on OldNews.com

Discover Stories of Your Spanish Ancestors: Names and Stories from Newspapers on OldNews.com

It is a fascinating time to be a genealogist. For those of us who spent decades squinting at microfilm in dimly lit libraries or waiting weeks for a self-addressed stamped envelope to return with a single birth certificate, the current landscape feels almost like science fiction. We are witnessing a fundamental shift where the barrier to entry isn't necessarily the lack of records, but rather the sheer volume of them. The challenge now is moving beyond the "dry bones" of names and dates to find the actual lives of our ancestors.

I have often said that a pedigree chart without stories is just a list of people who died. While we rely on vital records for accuracy and proof, they rarely tell us how a person felt, what they valued, or how they interacted with their community. This is where the marriage of massive digital databases and advanced search technology becomes indispensable.

Recently, MyHeritage.com announced a significant expansion of their OldNews.com platform, specifically targeting Spanish-language historical newspapers. They’ve added millions of pages from Spain, dating from the 18th century through the mid-20th. For those with Hispanic heritage, this is a milestone. Traditionally, Spanish research has relied heavily on excellent Catholic parish records. But those records are formulaic. A newspaper, however, captures the texture of life—legal notices, social gatherings, advertisements for a family business, or even a mention in a local "personal" column.

The "old school" researcher in me wants to remind you that newspapers are a secondary source. They can be prone to typos, misspellings, and the occasional embellishment of a local reporter. However, the "new school" tech-columnist in me knows that without the OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and AI-driven search capabilities of a site like OldNews.com, these stories would remain buried forever. You simply cannot manually browse three million pages of La Correspondencia de España looking for a great-uncle.

If you have ancestors from Spain, or even those who lived in Spanish territories, you should approach these digital archives with a strategy. Don't just search for a full name; Spanish naming customs, with the use of both paternal and maternal surnames, can be a goldmine for filtering results, but they can also be indexed in various ways. Try searching for just the surnames combined with a specific town name.

As you find these mentions, don't just "clip" the image and move on. Use these digital tools to bridge the gap to your formal research. If a newspaper mentions a probate case or a marriage announcement in 1885, use that date to jump back into the civil or parish registers to find the primary documentation. The newspaper provides the "why" and the "where," while the official record provides the "who" and the "when."

We are living in an era where the technological tools are finally catching up to our genealogical ambitions. Whether you are an absolute beginner or have been at this since the days of paper charts, the goal remains the same: accuracy supported by a rich narrative. These new Spanish collections are not just a list of names; they are a gateway to the voices of our ancestors that have been silent for centuries. It’s time to start listening.

This article was drafted with the assistance of Google Gemini. 

Goldie May AI will supercharge your genealogy research

 

https://www.goldiemay.com/

The landscape of genealogy is shifting under our feet once again, and this time, the catalyst is the integration of specialized Artificial Intelligence. I recently spent time analyzing a significant video demonstration regarding the Goldie May AI assistant, and it is clear that we are moving past the "novelty" phase of AI into a period of high-utility application. Here is the video:

AI just changed how much genealogy you can get done

One of my direct line ancestors, Garrard Morgan I (L7GZ-YBB in the FamilySearch.org Family Tree) has been an end-of-line for a long time but also has a fake ancestry attached to him. After watching the video I went to Goldie May Chrome Extension (Goldie May) which works with FamilySearch and other apps, and after a few minutes of trying an AI assisted search, I decided to try it on Garrard Morgan. Within a few minutes it found a hand typed manuscript that had the entire history of the Morgans and clearly showed that the pedigree that had been attached to him was fake. My Morgan family was in Virginia and Kentucky but the document I found was cataloged as being from Alaska. Essentially, Goldie May found a full text search document without me doing the full text search. 

I have yet gotten used to AI finding remarkable stuff but this takes the cake. Probably more on this in the near future. 

Understanding AI Online Thursdays

 

https://familyhistory.lib.byu.edu/get-help

I (James Tanner) am starting a free online open Q&A session on Thursdays at 10:00 am MDT (changing to MT on March 8th). This is an open discussion aimed at answering questions about using AI in the context of genealogy although I am glad to answer any other questions on any other topics. The online session is hosted by the BYU Library Family History Center Virtual Help Desk. Of course there will be days when I am not online such as during the upcoming RootsTech 2026 conference and holidays, sick days, etc. 

When you log on to the BYU Library Family History Center Virtual Help Desk, you will be directed to a breakout room where the discussion is being held. Look for my name in the breakout room list.