One of the major recent accomplishments was the acceptance of AI handwriting recognition as a valued tool for genealogical research. The turning point was the indexing of the 1950 U.S. Census by Ancestry.com in a very short time. See The Wait is Over! The 1950 U.S. Census Now Available on Ancestry®, Powering Countless New Discoveries. See also Ancestry® Proprietary Artificial Intelligence-Powered Handwriting Recognition Technology Processes Over 150 Million Records from the 1950 U.S. Census in Only 9 Days
AI based handwriting recognition of old documents and records is now being done at an ever increasing rate by FamilySearch.org. See AI Developments in Genealogy
Here is the Catch 22 or a dilemma or difficult circumstance from which there is no escape because of mutually conflicting or dependent conditions. As a researcher or user of the AI handwriting recognition you cannot verify if the AI handwriting recognition is accurate unless you can read the handwriting!
In a previous post, I outlined the issue of "Functional Illiteracy and inability to read handwriting in the US." People who suffer from functional illiteracy are at the mercy of the AI Chatbot that is being used to transcribe handwriting. Fortunately, FamilySearch.org has a volunteer program to systematically check the handwriting recognition that is presently going forward addressing the problem.
However, checking just the names does not communicate the accuracy of the remaining portions of the documents. For example, identifying a devisee of will or the beneficiary of a trust. I have recently been focusing on the accuracy of AI transcriptions and I am finding that the accuracy of the AI Chatbot is spotty to say the least.
Using AI transcriptions without checking the accuracy is not a good idea.
Calling inability to read handwritten text a "Catch 22" implies to me that AI is doing something to prevent a person from being able to read the handwriting the old-fashioned way -- by looking at an image of the document. And as the Bible saying goes, there is nothing new under the sun. What I mean by this is that even people who can easily read modern D'Nealian cursive handwriting likely struggles to read handwriting of earlier centuries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%27Nealian
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