By Maura Lerner Fisher
maura.fisher@iajgs.org
IAJGS AI for Jewish Genealogy Answer Book will be available soon. Check back here for the link.
One of the first things Steve Little did, as he began his presentation on artificial intelligence, was pull out his phone.
“I'd like to do a quick demonstration,” he told the audience at the April 26 AI Virtual Summit for Jewish Genealogy, which was hosted by IAJGS. “I’m going to start a conversation.”
Then, speaking into his phone, he introduced us to a popular chatbot, an AI computer program called ChatGPT.
“Good afternoon, Chat. My name is Steve Little, and I'm here with the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies,” he began. “Can you say hello real quick?”
“Hello everyone,” replied a friendly female voice.
“I’d like to ask you a few questions,” Little continued, turning philosophical. “Define four words for me: Alive, conscious, sentient and intelligent.” And then, he added, “Which would apply to you?”
I could have sworn I heard the female voice laugh.
“I’m not alive, no growing or dying here,” the chatbot replied.
“I'm not sentient either, since I don't have feelings or sensations.
But I do have some ability to process information, reason, and help solve problems. So, you could say I'm a form of artificial intelligence. Consciousness? Not really. No awareness of my own existence.”
When he turned off the chatbot, Little addressed the audience. “I’ve done that demonstration probably a dozen times,” he said. “And it still amazes me.”
Little, who heads the artificial intelligence program at the National Genealogical Society, was just one of the experts who shared their insights at the IAJGS event, a four-hour “deep dive” into the world of AI and its use in Jewish genealogy.
The live event drew more than 500 participants from 25 countries on Zoom.
“I have a confession to make,” said Marlis Humphrey, a former president of IAJGS, who organized the virtual summit. “AI has completely changed the way I do genealogy.” But the program was not designed to hype artificial intelligence, she said. “We’re here to learn how to use it.”
What followed was a practical, thoughtful and sometimes nuanced discussion about the state of the art, and how to use it as we explore our family histories.
Among the highlights:
* AI is particularly good at a few tasks that can help genealogists, such as summarizing and translating documents. It can, for example, turn a lengthy last will and testament into a spreadsheet, listing who inherited what “in about 90 seconds,” said Little, one of the cohosts. Or it can shrink a 2,000-word essay into a 150-word narrative.
- Think of it as having a conversation with an AI program, rather than simply asking questions. “Imagine it’s a very smart intern on his first day on the job,” said Little. Use what’s called a “structured prompt” to tell it what you want. For example: 'You are an expert genealogist. Read this will, and list the beneficiaries, their relationship to the deceased, and the amount of their bequest. And display it in a four-column table.'
- Yes, AI tools can “hallucinate,” or make stuff up. “Do not trust these things. Verify, verify, verify,” said Little. But if you ask the AI program to cite its sources, he said, “your accuracy goes way up.”
- Don’t be afraid to give it a try, said Mark Thompson, another cohost, who is president of the Victoria, British Columbia Genealogical Society. “You can’t break these things. Try it and see what you get.”
The program featured two hour-long sessions - an overview of AI, and one focusing on using AI as a research tool. It concluded with a panel discussion featuring Little and Thompson, who cohost the podcast “The Family History AI Show;” Humphrey, who is CEO and co-founder of L’Dor V’Dor Foundation; professional genealogists Gil Bardige and Alec Ferretti, and moderator Jarrett Ross, who is known as the GeneaVlogger.
This was the first, but not the last, AI virtual summit planned by IAJGS. At least one more is in the works for later this year, according to Humphrey. And there are plans for what she calls a “rewind party,” to give those who view the recording a chance to ask questions of the speakers in a live forum.
