Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little explore the AI developments that had the biggest impact on genealogy in 2024.

This week’s episode spotlights MyHeritage's newest viral tool, LiveMemory, which brings old photos to life through animation. Next, Mark and Steve count down the year's top AI breakthroughs for genealogists. The groundbreaking FamilySearch full-text search takes the top spot by providing unprecedented access to huge collections of handwritten records. Mark and Steve also discuss the genealogy community's migration to Bluesky.

Don’t miss this week’s tip of the week, which provides practical tips for using AI to help you research your ancestors’ home countries. 

This week’s rapid fire stories include major industry developments at Google, OpenAI, and Amazon.

This episode showcases how artificial intelligence is revolutionizing family history research for genealogists at all levels.

Timestamps:

IN THE NEWS

03:02 MyHeritage's Goes Viral (again!) with LiveMemory

10:56 Top Five AI Breakthroughs for Genealogists in 2024

Chatbots Learn How to Reason (OpenAI’s o1-preview)

Content Creation Within Chatbots (Artifacts, Canvas)

Collaborative Research Spaces (NotebookLM, Claude Projects, Perplexity Spaces)

AI-Enhanced Search (SearchGPT, Perplexity, Google)

FamilySearch Unlocks Handwritten Records

27:27 The Great Bluesky Migration

TIP OF THE WEEK

32:17 Use AI To Research the Home Country

RAPIDFIRE

40:41 Google Loses Antitrust Cases

44:33 OpenAI Announces Web Browser Initiative

48:25 Amazon's $4B Anthropic Investment

Resource Links

IN THE NEWS

MyHeritage's Goes Viral (again!) with LiveMemory

LiveMemory

https://www.myheritage.com/livememory/

Runway ML

https://runwayml.com/

TOP 5 AI BREAKTHROUGHS

Introducing OpenAI o1-preview

https://openai.com/index/introducing-openai-o1-preview/

Claude Artifacts

https://support.anthropic.com/en/articles/9487310-what-are-artifacts-and-how-do-i-use-them

ChatGPT Canvas

https://openai.com/index/introducing-canvas/

Google NotebookLM

https://notebooklm.google.com/

Claude Projects

https://www.anthropic.com/news/projects

Perplexity Spaces

https://www.perplexity.ai/hub/faq/what-are-spaces

Introducing ChatGPT Search

https://openai.com/index/introducing-chatgpt-search/

Perplexity

https://www.perplexity.ai/

Google

https://www.google.com/

FamilySearch Full-Text Search

https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/find-the-new-full-text-search-for-historical-records

BLUESKY MIGRATION

Bluesky Social

https://bsky.app/

Mark Thompson’s Bluesky Handle

https://bsky.app/profile/makingfamilyhistory.com

Steve Little’s Bluesky Handle

https://bsky.app/profile/digitalarchivst.bsky.social

RAPIDFIRE

Google Loses Antitrust Cases

https://www.npr.org/2024/08/05/nx-s1-5064624/google-justice-department-antitrust-search

https://www.reuters.com/legal/google-asks-us-appeals-court-reject-app-store-monopoly-verdict-2024-11-27/

https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/life/tech/2024/11/26/chrome-google-forced-sale

OpenAI Announces Web Browser Initiative

https://www.pcmag.com/news/openai-working-on-a-web-browser-to-compete-with-google-chrome

https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/openai-considers-taking-google-with-browser-information-reports-2024-11-21/

Amazon's $4B Anthropic Investment

https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/22/24303185/amazon-anthropic-investment-ai-alexa

Tags

AI, Artificial Intelligence, Genealogy, Family History, Technology, OpenAI, Google, Perplexity, ChatGPT, Anthropic, Genealogy AI, MyHeritage LiveMemory, Family History Technology, AI Photo Animation, FamilySearch Full-Text Search, Genealogy Search Tools, Historical Photo Animation, Family History Research, AI Genealogy Tools, Digital Genealogy, Handwritten Records Search, Ancestral Research, MyHeritage Tools, Genealogy Technology, Family Photographs, FamilySearch Tools, Genealogy Social Media, Bluesky Genealogy, AI Research Tools, Ancestry Research, Foreign Genealogy Research, Family History Software, Genealogy Databases, AI Document Analysis, Historical Documents, Genealogy Community, Genealogy Tips, Photo Preservation, Genealogy Innovations, Family History Preservation