Genealogical research for armchair genealogists - AI is coming! - an opinion

[Ronald Drysdale]

Thank you Russell for your comments on this page

Our Father James Drysdale.

The documents you refer to came from the vast repository of unindexed images in the Familysearch vaults, similar repositories of unindexed images are held by Scotlandspeople and many other state and commercial organisations.

What other unindexed genealogical gems (hand written and print) still remain undiscovered in these places?

Some opinions:

During the past 20 years or so, we armchair genealogists have been given ever-increasing access to information about our ancestors, in fact we've never had it so good:
- mass digitisation and indexing of old books, old records & media - with free or paid access via places like Internet Archive, Google books, National Archives, Ancesty, Findmypast etc.
- internet tools, email etc & search engines like Google
- word searches within digitised publications (eg pdf) - word & wild card search on some websites

However, some obscure publications and hand written documents and the information they contained were, by their very nature, unsearchable in many databases. Hence manually scanning through hundreds of document images and trying with difficulty to read reams of old hand-written text has been the norm for me for some records of late (try looking for a name in the virtual volumes (Kirk sessions etc) on the ScotlandsPeople website).

It's surprising that genealogists in the past were able to make so much progress and produce such good accurate work without the help of these digital tools!

Recent developments & future prospects

The recent introduction of the 'full text' search option on the Familysearch website (AI powered) allows full access to their unindexed image database with full typewritten and handwritten text search.

Other websites with digitised record databases will surely follow suit, I did contact Scotlandspeople about the possibility of them introducing AI word searches for their records, but they advised they had no current plans to introduce this.

Just imagine how many unknown people (our scottish forefathers) will be revealed when they finally do this ~ a typical baptism often has 2 or 3 named witnesses (names unindexed) while a Will often gives names of up to 20 people other than the the deceased - relatives, debtors, friends, officials etc.
Also their unindexed 'Virtual Volumes' of Kirk Session records is a very large image database resource that is largely untapped.

In my view a lot of previously unknown or lost ancestors are going to come to the surface within the next few years.

Best regards

[William Douglas]

The Ancestry threat is a possible reason Scotland's People are holding off on AI?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy50gn5353zo?fbclid=IwY2xjawNM7... 

[Ronald Drysdale]

Hi William,

It may well have something to do with Ancestry's court case against ScotlandPeople.

Anyway, this is the reply I received from ScotlandsPeople regarding my AI query:

Quote

"Dear Ron,

Thank you for your email.

AI functionality is not something that is currently under consideration for the Scotland's People website.
Whilst we continually look to promote our website and expand the number of users, as a department of the Scottish Government, the fees we charge cover cost recovery for use of the website and is not determined on a profit making basis. 

However, if future changes to the website support AI functionality which enhances the customer experience and is affordable, it is something we would look into.

Kind Regards

Alan

Scotland's People"

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Unquote

While Familysearch is currently in the lead on this facility (see below) Ancestry is concurrently developing their own AI search tools.

It's most likely that they want to get their hands on the Scotlandspeople image database so they will have good raw material for their AI search engines once they are finished with development.

From a revenues point of view, it has the potential to offer an order of magnitude increase, if, for example they had 100 Million unique names in their data base that were indexed to certain dates and places, with AI this could quadruple (say) as new and existing people could be found within documents
in many more places on differing dates.

There then would be a new AI subscription option appearing on Ancestry at $$$ per month extra to the normally indexed option.

From Google's AI:

AI Overview

FamilySearch has an active "Full-Text Search" feature that uses AI and OCR to search unindexed digitized records, while Ancestry has its own proprietary search engine that is part of its subscription service. Both allow keyword and phrase searches for historical records, but FamilySearch's full-text search is free and specifically designed to make previously browsable-only documents searchable.

Ancestry's strength is its extensive collection of indexed records, including U.S. special censuses and military records, but requires a paid subscription.

FamilySearch Full-Text Search

What it is: A free tool that uses AI and OCR to create searchable transcripts from digitized historical documents that were previously only available as images.
How it works: It uses machine learning and handwriting recognition to find names, places, and keywords within unindexed documents, making them discoverable and easier to analyze.
How to access: You can find the feature at www.familysearch.org/labs and turn it on to use it for your research.
Search tips: You can use quotation marks for exact phrases, plus (+) for inclusion, and minus (-) for exclusion [and also wild cards *].

Ancestry Search

What it is: A subscription-based service that provides access to a large, indexed collection of historical records and features advanced search filters.
How it works: Its search algorithm is designed to find specific information within billions of indexed records, though its AI-powered search capabilities are proprietary.
How to access: Requires a paid subscription for full access to most of its historical record collections.

Key Differences

Cost: FamilySearch's full-text search and access to records are free, whereas Ancestry requires a paid subscription.
Unindexed Records: FamilySearch's full-text search is specifically designed to bridge the gap for records that are not yet indexed, making them fully searchable.

Record Coverage: Both sites have vast collections, but Ancestry offers more U.S. special census and military records, while FamilySearch provides a collaborative global tree and extensive international records.

Best regards

Ron

[William Douglas]

That is a good overview.

Thank you