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. 

AI Intelligence and Genealogical Research

 

While history in general is a broad subject with many specialized subdivisions, genealogical research is one of the more focused parts of the overall historical research community.  An example of the limits of genealogical research is the lack of academic standing in the greater educational community. In universities around the world, there are very few universities that offer a degree in genealogical research. However, the existence of major online websites such as FamilySearch.org, Ancestry.com, and MyHeritage.com are visual evidence of the interest in genealogy as a subject throughout the world. 

 Currently, artificial intelligence (AI) has moved into one of the most controversial and universally discussed topics. Many see AI as revolutionary, and the impact of AI world wide is just barely beginning to be observed. Genealogists are hardly in the forefront of those adopting AI as a basis for their activity, their genealogical research activities. But it is inevitable that the effect of AI advances will change genealogy as much as it will affect every other historical and academic pursuit. 

 Much of the discussion about genealogy and artificial intelligence is focused on its limitations and ignoring its benefits. The most dramatic benefit is the dramatic increase made by AI assisted handwriting recognition. See Gemini 3 Solves Handwriting Recognition and it’s a Bitter Lesson (a must read article fo AI sceptics). Future unreleased upgrades to Google Gemini 3 are rumored to have an even greater increase in accuracy. Handwriting recognition unlocks billions of older records to those who do not have the ability to read old handwriting. This alone has a dramatic impact on the future development of genealogical research.

But the larger question is whether or not the genealogical community will understand and accept AI as an integral part of genealogical research. The larger genealogical websites with family trees and large databases have already adopted many AI features to enhance searching and record analysis, particularly of DNA relationships. But it remains to be seen if the current genealogical researchers who are admittedly older and less apt to incorporate new developments in their genealogical research activities will adopt general AI-assisted research. 

Resistance to the adoption of AI is based in part on the media's portrayal of AI as being unreliable and scary. There is a general focus on how AI could dominate the world through development of artificial general intelligence (AGI) and destroy humanity, and somehow achieve that by being totally unreliable and prone to hallucination.  None of these current alarms and statements about the dangerous nature of AI are new and are merely repetitions of fears expressed since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the 1700s. 

A more reasoned approach to the future of AI is expressed in a recent article published on the Nature website. 

Chen, Eddy Keming, Mikhail Belkin, Leon Bergen, and David Danks. “Does AI Already Have Human-Level Intelligence? The Evidence Is Clear.” Nature 650, no. 8100 (2026): 36–40. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-00285-6.

This authors argue that AGI is no longer a future goal but a present reality. Written by a multidisciplinary team of experts, the piece posits that current large language models (LLMs) have already met the functional standards for general intelligence.

The authors advance the idea that a major hurdle in acknowledging AGI is how we define it. The authors argue that critics often set the bar too high, requiring "superintelligence" or "perfection" that even humans don't possess. They suggest that general intelligence should be judged by:

• Breadth: Competence across multiple domains (math, language, science).
• Depth: Strong performance within those domains.

By these standards, if we consider a person like Einstein to have general intelligence despite his inability to speak Mandarin, we must grant the same status to AI, which exhibits broad and deep cognitive flexibility.

I suggest that AI is a valuable tool for genealogical research and that fears and efforts to limit its use are merely the same responses that occurs with technological innovations generally. 

 For example, years ago with the introduction of the hand calculator, schools throughout the United States and perhaps the world immediately reacted that reliance on hand calculators would result in the destruction of mathematics, and that students would not learn because they had this mechanical crutch.

The same arguments were made about the Wikipedia website that it would ruin education, and that children in schools should not use the website because it was unreliable and would prevent them from learning real information (however that was defined).

Today we're seeing the same thing in the academic world with alarms being raised over the fact that students will not learn how to do basic skills such as recognizing old handwriting because they will somehow need that. The answer is, yes, AI can make mistakes and is limited in many ways, but it is a tool, not a replacement for human knowledge. It's necessary as a component in the use of AI, just as it is with driving cars, flying airplanes, and any other major activities in the world.

A good analogy would be to require automobile mechanics, working on today's advanced automobiles, to retain horseshoeing skills because fundamentally, that was one of the abilities that was necessary for a large number of people a hundred years ago. 

Genealogists, like the rest of the world, will have to adapt to AI just as they have to the rest of the world's technological advancements. Get on the train before it leaves the station. 

The new face of The Family History Guide

 

https://thefhguide.com/

Back in 2015, when The Family History Guide first appeared online, it would have been impossible to predict the effect and impact that this website has had on the genealogical community. This website, with free structural learning paths for genealogical research, has helped countless people across the world to understand and develop their research skills. Sponsored by The Family History Guide Association, this non-profit 501(c)3 corporation has sustained efforts to progress in the new AI world. The website has gone through a complete revision and updating with dozens of individually crafted AI-based tutorials. 

The basis for this change is the guided learning library, where you can discover how guided learning can connect you with key resources in The Family History Guide. 

 The Family History Guide will be at RootsTech 2026 in Salt Lake City from March 5th to March 7th with a major booth. Come and see us at the RootsTech conference. The Family History Guide is supported entirely by contributions. 

Getting Started With AI for the Absolute Beginner

From what you hear online, you would think that getting started using an AI chatbot was complicated**,** with tons of jargon and arcane commands. However, getting started is as simple as asking a question. If you look carefully at the Google Gemini entry field, you will see that the instructions for the chatbot are simple: 'Ask Gemini.' Here are three steps to getting started. I am using Google Gemini because it is probably the AI chatbot that you will have the most access to.

Step One: If you already have a Google account, you're ready to start. But if you do not have a Google account, you will need to sign into Google. You may already have a Google account if you have Gmail, Chrome, or any other Google product. 

Step two is also fairly simple. Search for and open Gemini. You should see a screen that looks like this. 

Step three: Ask a question. 

 At this point, I have some suggestions for your first questions.

1. How do I ask you questions?
2. How do I design prompts?

The difference between a question and a prompt is:

• A question asks for some information.
• A prompt gives Gemini directions to do something.

The whole key to learning about AI involves continuing to ask questions and give prompts. If you are using or considering using AI for genealogical research, simply continue to ask questions about how to do genealogical research with Gemini. If you read any articles or hear from one of your friends, neighbors, or relatives about how they are using AI, simply take their suggestion and ask Gemini whether it is a good idea or not. It's that simple. Don't try to make things more complicated. 

 If you want a lot of help really fast, you can click on the tools link in the chat box and select "Guided Learning." Then, the question would be a prompt: "Teach me how to use AI." 

 Currently, Google has three levels of Gemini:

1. You get it when you sign in
2. Gemini Pro, which costs $20/month (which, of course, may change) 
3. For businesses and costs $250/month

You do not need the third level unless you are a programmer or a business. If you have any questions, the answer is still simple: Ask Gemini! 

Just a note. As of February 2026, the Gemini ecosystem is headlined by the Gemini 3 series, featuring the flagship Gemini 3 Pro for complex reasoning and the lightning-fast Gemini 3 Flash, both of which now include a dedicated "Thinking" mode for advanced agentic workflows and "vibe coding." While Gemini 3 Flash has become the default model for most users due to its near-pro-level intelligence at a lower latency, Gemini 3 Pro remains the top choice for sophisticated math, coding, and deep research tasks. Additionally, Google continues to support the Gemini 2.5 family (Pro, Flash, and Flash-Lite) for high-volume enterprise tasks, though older Gemini 2.0 models are scheduled for retirement by March 2026. This lineup is rounded out by specialized tools like Nano Banana Pro for high-fidelity image editing and the Veo 3.1 model for state-of-the-art video generation.