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In the engaging Legacy Family Tree webinar titled "10 Advanced Ways to Use AI in Family History", genealogist and tech-savvy presenter Andrew Redfern dives deep into how artificial intelligence can revolutionize genealogical research. Speaking to a global audience, Redfern guides viewers through ten innovative, hands-on applications of AI, moving beyond basic usage to demonstrate truly transformative tools and workflows. Whether creating timelines, analyzing historical documents, or synthesizing data across platforms, this session offers genealogists a glimpse into the powerful, layered capabilities of today’s AI tools—and how to use them effectively in real-world research scenarios.
Key Takeaways:
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Layered Approach to AI in Genealogy: Redfern introduces a layered framework—input, extraction, context, storytelling, visualization, and feedback—to guide genealogists in blending AI seamlessly into each phase of their research. This analogy, likened to crafting a multi-ingredient cake, helps demystify how different AI tools work together to enrich the genealogical process.
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Tool-Specific Strengths and Strategic Use: The webinar demonstrates how to leverage various AI platforms—ChatGPT for narrative drafting, Claude for diagram generation, Perplexity for web-based research, and Transkribus for handwriting transcription. Redfern emphasizes selecting tools based on task strengths, highlighting Claude’s diagramming capabilities and Perplexity’s superior web search functionality.
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Creative Presentation and Sharing of Research: Attendees learn how to turn data into compelling content, such as interactive timelines, audio stories using 11 Labs, and formatted blog posts. Redfern showcases techniques for generating visual outputs, including WordPress-compatible HTML and even custom GPTs for surname pattern analysis across multiple family trees.
For anyone passionate about family history, this webinar is a must-watch. It’s packed with real-time demonstrations, ethical considerations, and practical tips that elevate AI from a novelty to a valuable research companion. Viewing the full session provides a deeper understanding of how to combine tools creatively, iterate for better results, and ultimately share family stories in engaging new formats.
To further enrich your learning, be sure to download the comprehensive four-page syllabus available through the webinar portal. It complements the presentation with detailed guidance and direct links to the tools discussed. Dive in today to take your genealogical research to the next level with the power of AI.
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Comments (89)
Fantastic, useful, and very educational as always, Andrew! Thanks! :)
A question and a comment.\nQuestion: What exactly are GPT's and how do you learn to create them?\n\nComment: Every time I've used Transkribus it's been an utter failure. I've fed the same information to ChatGPT and Claude, and while they differ slightly, they transcribe Italian script from the early to late 1800's fairly accurately, and are able to then translate to English. Transkribus comes up with absolute gobbledegook that cannot be translated, or rather, the "translation" is exactly what went in. Garbage in, garbage out. \nI've tried it several times with several records from Portale Antenati with the same results every time.
Great presentation! I hope you do make a blog post summarizing these AI programs. I think it would be a wonderful resource!
You changed my mind about AI and genealogy research. I completely see the power and time saving abilities.
Wow - so amazing to see what using the various AI tools can give us.
Andrew is very good at explaining the magical AI in understandable terms.
Andrew always supplies great information, ideas and suggestions with a bounce in his voice and enthusiasm for his subject.
Learned a lot.