Use Artificial Intelligence Without Losing the Evidence,
the Human Story, or the Truth

Artificial intelligence is opening new possibilities for genealogists—from reading difficult handwriting and organizing research to exploring DNA clues, working with photographs, and turning records into meaningful family stories. But using AI well requires more than knowing which button to click or what prompt to use. The goal is to use AI as a research assistant, while keeping the evidence, judgment, privacy, uncertainty, and responsibility where they belong—with the genealogist.

This resource center brings together practical guides, downloadable tools, examples, webinars, articles, and continuing learning resources to help you use AI thoughtfully and confidently in your genealogy.

[Explore the Free Resources] anchor to the download section below. Free AI & Genealogy Resources

New to AI & Genealogy? Start Here

Artificial intelligence can help genealogists with many practical tasks—but it works best when we understand what it can do, where it can go wrong, and how to keep our research grounded in evidence. You do not need to become an AI expert to begin. Start with one record, one photograph, one research question, or one family story and see how AI might help you look at it in a new way.

AI Can Help You…

AI can assist the genealogist. It cannot replace the evidence, judgment, or responsibility of the genealogist.

Free AI & Genealogy Downloads

Complete AI & Genealogy Glossary

Not sure what terms such as generative AI, hallucination, evidence boundary, or future provenance mean?

This complete glossary explains commonly used AI, genealogy, DNA, preservation, and ethical terms in clear, practical language written specifically for family historians.

AI Genealogy Prompt Library

A collection of practical prompts designed to help you work more effectively with artificial intelligence while keeping your genealogy grounded in evidence.

Use these prompts as starting points, then adapt them to fit your own research question, record, photograph, or family story.

The prompt library includes examples for working with:

• Historical Records — transcribing, summarizing, and extracting information
• Difficult Handwriting — reading old letters, certificates, and handwritten documents
• Conflicting Information — comparing dates, names, places, and records that do not agree
• Research Planning — identifying what you know, what is missing, and what to search next
• Brick Walls — developing new questions, alternative explanations, and research strategies
• DNA Research — organizing matches, identifying patterns, and developing relationship hypotheses
• Old Photographs — identifying visual clues, estimating time periods, and suggesting avenues for further research
• Timelines — organizing events chronologically and identifying gaps or inconsistencies
• Family Stories — turning documented facts into readable narratives without inventing unsupported details
• Research Organization — summarizing notes, creating research plans, and organizing information into useful formats

Remember: A good prompt can improve an AI response, but the genealogist is still responsible for evaluating the evidence and verifying important information.

Before You Upload: AI Privacy Checklist

AI can be very helpful with documents, photographs, DNA research, family stories, and other genealogy materials—but not everything in your files needs to be uploaded.

Before sharing information with an AI tool, take a moment to consider privacy, consent, living people, and whether the tool actually needs all the information you are about to provide.

Give the tool what it needs—not everything you have.

This practical checklist will help you decide what to remove, crop, anonymize, or reconsider before uploading genealogy material to an AI system.

AI Research & Integrity Record

Sometimes AI does more than answer a quick question. It may help transcribe a difficult record, organize evidence, suggest a new research direction, restore a photograph, translate a document, or help shape a family story.

When AI makes a meaningful contribution to your genealogy, it can be helpful to leave a simple record of what happened.

The AI Research & Integrity Record gives you a place to document:

• what you asked AI to do
• what information or material you provided
• what AI contributed
• what you verified
• what you corrected
• what uncertainty remains
• where the original material is preserved

The goal is not to document every conversation you have with AI.

It is to create a record when AI has contributed something that could affect how your research or family-history material is understood later.

AI-Assisted Genealogy Research Log

AI can help generate ideas, organize evidence, suggest questions, and identify possible next steps—but good genealogy still depends on keeping track of what you actually searched, what you found, and what still needs to be verified.

The AI-Assisted Genealogy Research Log helps you keep AI suggestions connected to your real research.

Use it to record:

• your research question
• the AI tool and prompt you used
• suggestions or possibilities AI offered
• records or sources you decided to investigate
• what you actually found
• what you verified or disproved
• new questions that emerged
• your next research step

The goal is simple:

Keep AI suggestions separate from the evidence you actually discover.

AI Disclosure Examples

When artificial intelligence makes a meaningful change to family-history material, a short disclosure can help future readers understand what was original and what technology contributed.

You do not need a long technical explanation.

The goal is simply to be clear.

This guide includes sample disclosure wording for:

• photo restoration
• photo colorization
• reconstructed or generated images
• transcription
• translation
• family-history writing
• synthetic voices
• animated photographs
• AI-generated audio or video

Use the examples as starting points and adapt them to fit your own project.

[Download the AI Disclosure Examples Guide]

Try It Yourself: The AI Genealogy Practice Lab

AI Genealogy Practice Lab

Want to try AI without using your own family information?

These short practice exercises let you experiment with historical records, photographs, research problems, and family stories while learning how to evaluate what AI gets right—and where it needs to be questioned.

Try one exercise at a time. The goal is not to get the perfect AI answer. The goal is to learn how to think like a genealogist while using AI.

And for those of you who want everything at once:

A Simple Rule to Remember

The evidence determines what the story can say.

AI can help us read, organize, compare, question, and communicate our research.

It can also make unsupported information sound remarkably convincing.

Before accepting an AI answer, ask:

What came from the historical evidence?

What came from interpretation?

What did AI add?

And sometimes the most accurate conclusion is still: We don’t know yet.

Watch & Learn

Unlocking Your Genealogy with AI

Want to see some of these ideas in action?

Explore the Unlocking Your Genealogy with AI mini-webinar series for short, practical lessons on using artificial intelligence in family-history research.

Each session is under 10 minutes and focuses on a specific way AI can help you research, organize, preserve, and share your genealogy.

Topics include:

• What AI is and why it matters to genealogy
• Using AI to help break down brick walls
• Creating timelines and family trees with AI
• Generating ancestor stories with AI writing tools
• Deepfakes, digital ethics, and family history
• AI, legacy, and becoming a future ancestor

Continue Reading

Explore articles and case studies about using artificial intelligence in family-history research.

How AI Is Changing Genealogy

See where AI can help—and what every researcher should continue to watch for.

[Read the Article]

Using AI to Build a DNA Proof Argument

Learn how AI can help organize DNA evidence without taking control of your research conclusions.

[Read the Article]

Using AI to Break Down Brick Walls

Learn how AI can help you look at an old research problem with fresh questions and new possibilities.

[Explore the Resource]

Generating Ancestor Stories With AI

Learn how AI can help turn records into readable family stories without inventing the lives of the people you are writing about.

[Explore the Resource]

The AI Genealogist

Using Artificial Intelligence Without Losing the Evidence, the Human Story, or the Truth

The AI Genealogist explores how family historians can make meaningful use of artificial intelligence while preserving the standards that make genealogy trustworthy.

The book goes beyond individual AI tools and focuses on the skills that remain important no matter how the technology changes:

• asking better questions
• evaluating AI responses
• challenging assumptions
• working with conflicting evidence
• preserving originals
• protecting privacy
• distinguishing evidence from interpretation
• documenting meaningful AI involvement
• knowing when AI should—and should not—be used

Coming Soon

Were You at Unlocking Your Family History with AI?

If you attended my presentation Unlocking Your Family History with AI, welcome!

This page is your place to continue experimenting with the ideas we explored together.

You do not have to try everything at once.

Choose just one:

One document.
One photograph.
One research problem.
One group of notes.
Or one ancestor story.

Then see whether AI can help you look at it in a new way.

Interested in Learning Together?

AI & Genealogy Special Interest Group

I am considering starting a monthly online AI & Genealogy Special Interest Group where family historians can meet on Zoom to:

• explore practical AI uses
• try new ideas together
• discuss genealogy problems
• evaluate AI answers
• share what worked—and what didn’t
• learn about new developments in AI and genealogy

This is still in the planning stage.

If this sounds like something you might enjoy, let me know.

[I’m Interested in the AI & Genealogy Group]

Stay Connected

AI and genealogy are changing quickly.

If you would like new genealogy articles, free resources, podcast updates, upcoming programs, and occasional AI & genealogy news, you are invited to join the AncestrySeeking newsletter.

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No pressure and no clutter—just practical genealogy learning and resources you can use.

One Last Thought

Technology will continue to change.

The responsibility of the genealogist does not.

Ask questions.
Check sources.
Challenge assumptions.
Preserve originals.
Recognize uncertainty.
And use AI when it makes the genealogy better.