Expand Genealogy Research 12 Generations with AI

What this is, in plain English

This workflow describes a method for using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to significantly expand genealogical research, aiming to trace family lines back up to 12 generations. The core idea is to treat your family history research like a software development project. This means using tools and processes common in software engineering, such as version control (git), to manage your data and research progress.

The author found that AI could go beyond simple searches, helping to identify ancestors and transcribe historical records. The process involves iteratively researching individuals, finding their records, adding them to a structured data file, and repeating the cycle. This approach allows for a systematic and deep dive into family history that might be difficult to achieve with traditional methods alone.

This method is more advanced because it requires setting up a development environment and understanding how to interact with AI models for complex tasks. The exact AI prompts and the specific AI models to use are not provided as simple copy-paste instructions, as they depend on the user’s chosen AI tools and the specific genealogical data being researched.

What you can use it for

• Deep Ancestral Research: Trace your family tree back many generations, uncovering more distant relatives.
• Data Management: Organize and track your genealogical findings systematically using version control.
• AI-Powered Discovery: Leverage AI to find and transcribe historical records that might be hard to locate or read.
• Reproducible Research: Treat your genealogy as a project, allowing you to revisit and build upon your research over time.
• Visualize Family Trees: Use tools like Cloudflare Pages to create and share interactive visualizations of your expanded family tree.

Tools you need

• git (free): A system for tracking changes in files and coordinating work on projects, essential for managing your genealogical data.
• GitHub (freemium): A popular online platform for hosting git repositories, allowing you to store and share your project code and data.
• Codeberg (free): An alternative online platform for hosting git repositories, offering a free and open-source option.
• Cloudflare Pages (freemium): A service that allows you to host static websites directly from a git repository, useful for visualizing your family tree.
• GEDCOM (free): A standard file format for exchanging genealogical data between different family tree software products.

How it actually works

1. Set up your project: Initialize a git repository to manage your genealogical data. You can use a provider like GitHub or Codeberg to store your repository online.
2. Choose a GEDCOM version: The author recommends using GEDCOM version 5.5.1, as it is widely supported by genealogy tools.
3. Understand GEDCOM structure: Familiarize yourself with how GEDCOM files are structured, noting that they use indentation with leading numbers to define relationships and data points.
4. Iterative Research Loop: For an individual in your tree with unknown parents, use an AI assistant to search for their records. The AI should be instructed to browse genealogy sites and archives relevant to the person’s location.
5. Transcribe and Add Data: When the AI finds a record (like a birth certificate), it should transcribe the information, add the new individuals to your GEDCOM file, link them to their child, and record the source of the information.
6. Commit Changes: After adding new data, commit these changes to your git repository to save your progress.
7. Repeat: Continue this process for each individual and branch of your family tree until no more records can be found.
8. Visualize: Use Cloudflare Pages to host your GEDCOM data and visualize your family tree.

Words you’ll see, explained

• Genealogy: The study of families and the tracing of their lineage and history.
• GEDCOM: A standard file format for exchanging genealogical data between different family tree software.
• Version Control (git): A system that records changes to a file or set of files over time so that you can recall specific versions later.
• Repository: A place where your project’s files and their history are stored, often online.
• AI Assistant: A program that uses artificial intelligence to help with tasks, such as searching for information or transcribing text.
• Token Quota: A limit on the amount of data or text that an AI model can process at one time, often based on the number of words or characters.

Original source

This workflow is based on a blog post by nfrankel, shared on the DEV Community platform. The author explains their personal experience using AI to expand their family tree research by treating it like a software project. They detail the setup, the data format used, and the iterative process of AI-assisted research.

Notes & variations

• Do you even need this?: If you only need to trace a few generations back or are not interested in managing your research like a software project, simpler genealogy software or websites might suffice.
• Free Tier Limits: Free tiers for git hosting and website hosting are generally sufficient for personal projects. However, the AI tools used for research may have usage limits or require paid subscriptions for extensive use.
• Common Pitfall: A common mistake is not clearly defining the AI’s task, leading to irrelevant results or incomplete transcriptions. Ensure your prompts are specific about what information to find, how to format it, and where to add it in your GEDCOM file.