Steve Little knows that many people are a bit wary of Artificial Intelligence. But he has a message for those of us in the world of Jewish genealogy: It’s easier to use than you may think. And it’s about to get easier.
That’s one of the themes of the first AI Virtual Summit for Jewish Genealogy, which IAJGS is hosting on April 26.
“We’re watching this technology getting better so fast it’s literally breathtaking,” says Little, one of the experts who will lead the online program.
The summit is billed as a free, 4-hour “deep dive” for anyone interested in how AI is transforming Jewish genealogy –– including skeptics.
“The hardest-core skeptics become the most fervent zealots when they find someone who can address their questions knowledgeably,” said Little, who is AI program director for the National Genealogical Society. With the right kind of information, he adds, the “fear, uncertainty and doubt…It evaporates like fog in the morning sun.”
The virtual summit was the brainchild of Marlis Humphrey, a past-president of IAJGS, who says that we’re on the cusp of major advances in the way we do genealogy. “We’re hoping to take the Jewish genealogy community on this ride,” she said.
The summit will shed light on how popular AI programs like ChatGPT, which are freely available online, can do more and more of the heavy lifting of genealogy — such as searching, translating, and summarizing old documents.
“And (they) do it more thoroughly and more quickly than we’ve ever been able to do as researchers in the past,” says Humphrey
The April 26 program, which begins at 12:30 p.m. Eastern time, will be broken into three parts: Two hour-long classes, followed by a Q&A session with a panel of experts.
The first class, “Introduction to AI for Genealogists,” will be an overview by Little. “I will get folks up to speed, using examples from Jewish genealogy to demonstrate what these things do very well,” he said.
The second class, “Yes, You Can Research With AI,” is a detailed look at how to use these tools to help with your own family research. “The hard, rough edges of using AI have now been rubbed off,” said Mark Thompson, a professional genealogist who will lead the second class (and cohosts, with Little, a podcast called “The Family History AI Show.”)
For one thing, he says, they are becoming more reliable and less apt to “hallucinate,” or generate false answers. “A year ago, we told people these are very very risky to use for research,” he said. “Now it’s quite the opposite.”
They’ve also gotten better at mimicking normal conversations.
“You can just talk to them in your natural voice, and they are infinitely patient — unlike trying to get your children or grandchildren to teach you something,” says Little. “They will explain it to you again and again. These tools are not alive. They’re not conscious… But (AI) fakes it so well that there’s almost a distinction without a difference.”
The Q&A session will feature both Thompson and Little, as well as Humphrey, Gil Bardige, and Alec Ferretti, all genealogists with extensive experience using AI, and moderator Jarrett Ross.
Up to 300 people can attend the live online summit, which will also be recorded for future viewing on the IAJGS YouTube channel. Thanks to a new feature on Zoom, non-English speakers around the world will be able to participate with closed-captions in 46 languages.
The organizers say they plan to hold at least one more AI virtual summit later this year.
For more information, go to IAJGS.org/AI-summit
