EP2: AI outages, Ethical Debates in Genealogy, Google's awful week. Perplexity's “Pages” simplifies research
The Family History AI ShowShow Notes
“These tools are so useful […] that even if there are prohibitions against their use, […] there's an incredible temptation to use them surreptitiously.” - Steve Little
Join Mark Thompson and Steve Little as they discuss the AI stories affecting the family history community. AI outages, ethical debates, and cutting-edge tools were all big news this week.
Also, listen to how OpenAI's new content deals, Google's very bad awful week, and Perplexity's innovative Pages tool, could impact your genealogy research in the future.
Please leave a comment/review to let us know how we’re doing, and what you would like us to discuss in future episodes!
Timestamps00:30 Major outage of tools on June 4th, 2024 02:48 Ethical considerations for using AI for genealogy 10:38 OpenAI's new content licensing deals 13:54 Google fumbles AI-overview rollout 17:20 Perplexity's innovative Pages tool simplifies research 23:57 OpenAI announces more free stuff included in ChatGPT 29:16 AI Tip of The Week: Treat Your Chatbot Like a Human 32:34 Rapid-fire updates 32:41 OpenAI Announce development of a new large language model 34:08 Partnership between Apple and OpenAI expected soon 35:45 Elon Musk announces $6B investment in Grok.AI 36:38 Meta/Facebook announce a paid version of Meta.AI coming “soon” 39:31 Upcoming Announcements 39:37 Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference 39:45 Ontario Genealogical Society Conference 40:05 Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh 41:07 Tout fini!
Resource LinksOpenAI: https://www.openai.com ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/ “Genealogy and Artificial Intelligence (AI)” Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/genealogyandai Google AI Overview: https://ai.google Perplexity AI: https://www.perplexity.ai Perplexity Pages Tool: https://www.perplexity.ai/pages Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com Meta AI: https://ai.facebook.com Ontario Genealogical Society Conference: https://conference.ogs.on.ca Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP): https://www.gripitt.org Apple Worldwide Developer Conference: https://developer.apple.com/wwdc
More from The Family History AI Show
This episode is sponsored by the Family History AI Show Academy
Description Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little return from institute season to unpack a summer that reshaped the artificial intelligence landscape, beginning with the new model families from OpenAI and Anthropic and how to choose among them.
Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little open with a deep look at MyHeritage's new Scribe AI, a new AI tool that analyzes records, photographs, gravestones, and coats of arms and provides genealogy relevant research suggestions. It even works on your own photographs.
Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little examine the major AI model upgrades released over the winter, comparing Anthropic's Opus 4.6, OpenAI's GPT 5.4, and Google's Gemini 3.1 Pro and their benefits for genealogists.
In the last episode of 2025, Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little present their predictions for how artificial intelligence will transform genealogy research in 2026. This special episode examines fourteen key trends shaping the future of family history AI.