07/12/2026
In some of the genealogy groups I subscribe to, I see comments about using AI to potentially get additional information that may unblock a brick wall, add to what we already know, or give us ideas of avenues to follow. I tried an AI search (on a regular search engine) for one of my brick walls and got the same, tired information I keep getting. That tired information is not accurate, and no matter what additional information I used for that AI search, it could not find the people I was actually looking for. Now, I know most of the family tree programs also use AI features...photo matchers, photo enhancers, AI-based hints, etc. This is not what I'm about to talk about....
Today, an ad came up for an AI Researcher. I don't fully understand it, and the web page that the ad links to doesn't fully esplain it. But, it is both intriguing and dangerous. Intriguing in the claims it makes, and dangerous in the fact that if the information it provides is accurate, it could put people out of work. It claims to be able to provide an entire book of cited information, some of which people would have to travel to obtain, with a single search. I'm skeptical, and I have an understanding of AI. My very quick search of it says its about $15 for 1000 REQUESTS. I have no idea what "requests" means. In AI talk, that could mean the number of searches the program runs related to your search. If you have you add additional information, that could also impact the "number of requests". So, this "low-cost" service could be really expensive in the long run. AI also tends to produce mixed-results. It's getting better, but certainly not perfect.
When I looked this up, I also saw there are others. I don't know if I will ever try these AI Ancestor Researchers, but they are just like any other tool...only as good as how you use it. If anyone decides to use one, its only as good as the prep (your search terms) and your finished product (citations and where they lead, and the accuracy of the finished result). I made the mistake when starting my tree of relying completely on the trees of others, and not citing anything. I now have a massive tree that still has many inaccuracies that I can't figure out. I still fall into the trap of trying to add too many people too quickly because I'm tired, and only putting citations in for some of a family group.
Before I get more off-topic, here is the link for the AI...
Trace your family history with an agentic AI research assistant. DeepExa pulls census, immigration, archives, and public records into one structured ancestry report.
