AI Tools
Are you using artificial intelligence (AI) tools in your genealogy research? Whether you realize it or not, AI is transforming the way we search for and transcribe records, making the process faster and more efficient.
One of my earliest experiences with AI was using ChatGPT to transcribe newspaper articles. Over time, I’ve expanded my toolkit to include Perplexity.ai, which has proven to be a valuable resource for genealogical research.
More recently, I’ve turned to AI for enhancing my blog posts, particularly when it comes to improving the writing and optimizing for SEO (search engine optimization)—making my posts more visible to search engines. AI tools have also been helpful in creating visually compelling featured images to accompany my blog content.
Take yesterday’s Thompson DNA post as an example. I used ChatGPT to refine my draft and improve its readability. My first prompt included the raw text of the post:
can you improve the following? Are you a member of any surname groups on Facebook? If so, have you seen posts asking whether you have a particular surname in your tree? The Thompson Genealogy group recently had a couple of posts. When I saw the first post asking about the surname NAIL, I looked in my RootsMagic file and did not find anyone. However, when I searched my list of DNA matches, I found over 100 matches with the NAIL surname in their trees. Filtering those matches to isolate the common ancestors, resulted in three matches. Unfortunately, those three matches represent three different branches of my tree. John Reed / Mary Buckles — 4th great grandparent on my MOTHER’s side of the tree Major Simon Gerrit VanArsdale / Rachel Banta – 5th great grandparents on my FATHER’S side of the tree Jremiah Browning / Cassandra Farmer – 5th great grandparents on my FATHER’s side of the tree While I’m hoping that when finished grouping my DNA matches, my ‘dots’ will provide more clues to how I’m related to these matches. With only about 1/2 of the groups finished, it does not look promising. I currently have the following groups in my list of DNA matches with the NAIL surname in their tree. Ralston/McCormick – 1 (paternal side) Hammond/Fisk – 3 (paternal side) Currey/Harris – 1 (paternal side — would include the VanArsdale line) While my Ricketts/Reed group has 133 members, none of them are showing up in the list of matches with the NAIL surname. The same is true of my Foster/Ostrander group with 379 members. A similar Facebook post was looking for people with the GOBLE surname in their tree. Again, I don’t have anyone with the GOBLE surname in my RootsMagic file but have over 100 DNA matches whose trees have the Goble surname in them. Below is an analysis of these results. Foster/Ostrander group matches (paternal side) – 2 Ralston/McCormick group matches (paternal side) – 2 James Ralson / Nancy McCormick (3rd great grandparents on paternal side of my tree) – common ancestors – 1 match John Reed / Mary Buckles (4th great grandparents on maternal side of my tree) common ancestor – 1 match Mary Stanley (5th great grandmother on maternal side of my tree) – common ancestor – 1 match Benjamin Rush / Dorcas Vickory (5th great grandparents on maternal side of my tree) – common ancestor – 1 match Sorting by paternal vs maternal side results on over 50 matches on the paternal side with almost 50 matches on the maternal side These Facebook questions and my analysis of my DNA matches has shown me that I’m likely NOT related to these THOMPSON researchers thru my THOMPSON line. With my tree going back to the 1700s in the United States and over 100,000 DNA matches, I’m finding that searching my DNA matches for surnames is not very helpful. Instead the grouping of my matches as recommended by Your DNA Guide is proving to be helpful in figuring out relationships of my DNA matches to each other and to myself.
In addition to polishing the text, I also asked ChatGPT to write the meta description for the post. The response was:
Explore how analyzing DNA matches and grouping them by family lines can uncover surprising connections across different branches of your family tree. Learn how surname searches on Facebook and tools like Your DNA Guide provide insights into genealogical research.
Next, I requested a focus keyphrase for the post, and ChatGPT suggested: “DNA matches and surname analysis.” Based on this suggestion, I updated the post by incorporating the phrase into the introduction and other key sections.
When the SEO analysis indicated that the keyphrase needed to appear in the meta description, I asked ChatGPT to revise it accordingly.
For the featured image, I experimented with the “Generate with AI” feature in WordPress. While it produced a suitable image, there were misspelled words in the design. I turned back to ChatGPT, and after a couple of iterations, it successfully created an accurate and visually appealing image.
By leveraging ChatGPT and other AI tools, I was able to enhance the quality of the Thompson DNA post—both in terms of its writing and its discoverability. These tools not only made the process smoother but also helped me refine my approach to genealogy blogging as a whole.
AI continues to be a game-changer in my research and writing process. Whether I’m transcribing records, analyzing DNA matches, or optimizing blog content for SEO, these tools are proving invaluable in helping me uncover and share meaningful stories from my family history.