Is AI helpful or merely trivial?

As a genealogist, there is a division between activities that help and support genealogical/historical research and those that are mere play-time diversions. AI is not my "companion." AI is not going to help me with my daily schedule. AI is not going to improve the quality of my life (at least not directly). I am not looking to AI for advice about my life. AI is not a game or pass-time. So, what good is AI to a genealogical researcher? 

I have been working on that aspect of AI now for more than three years. I have compared several of the Chatbot AI programs and tried to see how AI fits into my daily routine of finding genealogical records, drafting blog posts, developing webinar and class presentations, and answering questions from patrons at the Family History Center at the BYU Library and consultations with guests from the FamilySearch Library's webpage. (https://www.familysearch.org/en/library/genealogy-help). Here is what I have found so far. 

First of all, I find it necessary to plough through the fluff and triviality of most of the online suggested AI activities. One of the main activities of genealogical research is the process of asking questions and finding answers from valid historical documents usually referred to as the "Research Process." But because of the complex nature of the overall genealogical activities that support research, I often need help with the mechanics of using online programs and resources. I also need to keep my computer system operational. So where does AI fit into this process and how do we avoid being side tracked by triviality?

At it core, AI as it is now being promoted is nothing more or less that an enhanced search engine with a robotic interface. If this assessment is the case, and I think it am right, AI should help with research as a step-up from a Google Search. What I do find, after trying different approaches, is that AI gives answers and not just a list of possibly useful websites. Initially, there was a lot of hand wringing over the accuracy of the AI Chatbots. The answer to the issue of the reliability of the information from the Chatbots was simply providing the source of their responses. The good news is that both Google Gemini and Microsoft CoPilot now provided accurate source citations to their responses. This allows the information to be evaluated and incorporated into the Research Process. You will have to try this out for yourself, but I find routine questions about history are adequately addressed. The AI Chatbots can also give me suggested online record sources and other related questions. 

What this means for the average genealogical researcher is that AI can become your preferred search engine as long as it provides adequate source citations. 

Here is a short example. I asked Microsoft CoPilot the following question:

Tell me the Catholic parish and diocese of Nuevo Colón, Boyacá, Colombia 

I got the following response:

The Catholic parish in Nuevo Colón, Boyacá, Colombia is Parroquia Nuestra Señora de la Antigua, located at Carrera 4 N° 3 - 26, Nuevo Colón, Boyacá, 90230. This parish falls under the jurisdiction of the Arquidiócesis de Tunja. If you need more details, you can check out their official page .

The answer also linked to the following website for support.

Iglesias y Parroquias Católicas en Nuevo Colon Boyacá , Colombia

https://www.tramiya.com/iglesias-y-parroquias-catolicas-en-nuevo-colon-boyaca-colombia/  

This is definitely an enhanced help from trying to find this website with a Google Search when I have no idea that it exists. A check by searching from the town, Nuevo Colon Boyacá , Colombia, on Google Maps shows the churches in that town correspond to the response from CoPilot. 

Now, why would I use CoPilot? I got both answers with links Even with the mapy of the town, I still do not know the dioceses. 

If you are doing hundreds of searches every day, the convenience of the Chatbots saves valuable time. 

Now what else. We (my extended family) are finding the organizing a lot of information on a spreadsheet in enhanced. We also find that asking for instructions about fixing online computer issues is enhanced. We like these features but see no use for the fluff. I don't need a Chatbot to tell me what I need to buy at the store for example. Although I might use a Chatbot to research purchases. So we come back to using AI for finding resources and answering questions.