AI-Enhanced Search

• Never trust, always verify!

• Google Gemini
  • Produces the AI insights at the top of some searches
  • Click on the little link icon to get a sidebar with links to webpages.

• Google Lens
• ChatGPT
  • Click the Search button or globe icon below the prompt box.
  • In the results, you can click on the gray source bubbles and see the underlying search results for each paragraph.  You can also click on the sources bubble at the bottom of the result and get a sidebar with links.  You will only get the links the AI used, and not a complete search result list like google gives you.
• Perplexity
  • Two levels of free search – search and research.  Research requires a free account.
  • Search gives you a tab for the answer and a tab for the sources.

• Resources
  • PC Mag: https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-ai-search-engines
  • The Family History AI Show, by Mark Thompson & Steve Little
  • Genealogy and Artificial Intelligence Facebook Group
  • RootsTech will have 25 presentations (March 6-8): https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/

• Show & Tell

• Ethics and Privacy Issues

• Accuracy
  • • Large language models deal in probability, not truth.  Outputs must be checked for accuracy.
    • Ask the AI to cite sources – and check that they are real

• Training Data
• Large language models are only as good as training data.
• Biased data leads to biased outputs: article
  • Did the company have rights to use training data?
    • Google – uses search, web, etc
    • Facebook – uses posts on FB.  Also used a database of pirated books: article
    • Beginning to sign contracts: article

• Confidential Data
  • When you go to, say, chatgpt.com, everything you input may get added to training data, eventually.  Don’t include confidential or sensitive information.  (AI is actually good at helping to anonymize data, such as generating lists of names to substitute for the real names.)Assume everything that you type on the public internet is added to training data.New downloadable models run on your personal device.  Your interactions are not necessarily uploaded as training data. 
  • Check the terms of use!

• Copyright, Trademarks & Privacy
  • Purely AI-generated content cannot be copyrighted in the US. AI makes it really easy to generate illegal derivatives of copyrighted content.
  • May you use AI to create images using Coke cans, Lady Gaga’s face  or graphic violence?
    • Most products have restrictions and guidelines.  Grok (the X product) does not.

• Authorship
  • When and how do we disclose the assistance of AI?  If it is being used as a tool in a way similar to a dictionary or word processor – ie, as a tool whose results get filtered through a human brain – probably not.  If it is doing unaudited work, probably.
  • How to make sure future AI products can be distinguished from “original” products… such as images, letters?

• Environmental Issues
  • Running a new machine learning model on a huge training dataset, and offering it to millions of users, requires huge amounts of electricity and water.  Article

• Coalition for Responsible AI in Genealogy
  • RootsTech session on CRAIGEN: https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/session/guidelines–for–the–responsible–use–of–artificial–intelligence–ai–in–genealogy

• Resources
  • The Family History AI Show, by Mark Thompson & Steve LittleGenealogy and Artificial Intelligence Facebook Group
  • University of South Florida has written a very useful LibGuide on using AI: website

• Articles Recommended by ChapGPT

Accuracy: Synthetic Heritage: Online platforms, deceptive genealogy and the ethics of algorithmically generated memory

Bias:  Ethical Challenges and Solutions of Generative AI

Respect for the Deceased:  AI Developments in Genealogy and How They Impact You

Copyright:  Generative AI in Focus: Copyright Office’s Latest Report

Terms of Use:  Navigating the Legal Landscape: Generative AI and Copyright Law

Data Sharing:  Privacy Challenges and Research Opportunities for Genomic Data

Living Relatives:  Ethical Considerations: Navigating Privacy and AI in Family History

Citation/Disclosure:  Disclosing Use of AI for Writing Assistance in Genealogy

Ethical Research: AI Developments in Genealogy and How They Impact You

• News
  • RootsTech presentations: https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/search?f.language=en-US&f.text=artificial%20intelligence&p.index=0

• Show & Tell

• Basic technique – ChatGPT and custom GPTs
  • Go to chatgpt.com and create an account
  • Click on Explore GPTs and search or browse
  • Once you’ve used it, a custom GPT should come up in your sidebar every time you log in to chatgpt.com
  • The free account has limits on some activities, like uploading photos for analysis.

• Photos and Images
• Analyzing Photo Content (ChatGPT)
  • Go to Explore GPTs and search on Steve Little
  • Select Genealogy Eyes https://chatgpt.com/g/g-gmIAn5mh6-genealogy-eyes
  • Drag an image file
  • Type something like what can you tell me about this image
• Analyzing Photo Technique and Content
  • Go to Explore GPTs and search on Steve Little
  • Select Steve’s Photograph Analysis https://chatgpt.com/g/g-QOU2Au99i-steve-s-photograph-analysis
  • Drag an image file
  • Type something like analyze
• Newspaper Images (ChatGPT)
  • Go to Explore GPTs and search on Steve Little
  • Click on Steve’s Transcription Tool https://chatgpt.com/g/g-67a26e32a098819193de6784ad4cda13-steve-s-transcription-tool-v3
  • Drag an image file with text.
  • Type transcribe
• Or search on Mark Thompson and click on Historical Photo Analyzer https://chatgpt.com/g/g-gbEbpBXtc-mark-thompson-s-historical-photo-analyzer
• Google Lens
  • “Search what you see”
  • https://lens.google/
• Generative AI Images
  • “Text to image”
  • Fun, ethically tricky
  • Dall-E:  https://openai.com/index/dall-e-3
  • Read reviews: https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/best-ai-image-generators/

• Resources
  • The Family History AI Show, by Mark Thompson & Steve Little
  • Genealogy and Artificial Intelligence Facebook Group
  • RootsTech presentations:  https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/search?f.language=en-US&f.text=artificial%20intelligence&p.index=0