Choosing AI Engines and Custom Prompts

Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little explore how AI-based transcriptions are revolutionizing genealogical research across the industry. They examine FamilySearch's Full-Text Search expansion to over 1.25 billion records and Ancestry's new document transcription tool.

The episode features an exclusive interview with David Ouimette from FamilySearch, who reveals how they're making previously unsearchable handwritten documents accessible through AI technology.

This week's Tip of the Week demonstrates Dan Maloney's innovative Genealogy Assistant HTR tool for transcribing multiple documents simultaneously.

In RapidFire, they discuss Grok 4's anticipated release, Apple's shift to integrate ChatGPT and Claude rather than develop their own AI, and Google Photos' new natural language search capabilities powered by Gemini.

Timestamps:

In the News:

03:23 AI Transcriptions Everywhere: The New Normal in Genealogy

25:33 Building AI Apps with Claude

Interview:

29:34 David Ouimette on FamilySearch's AI Journey

RapidFire:

49:27 Grok 4 Release Announcement

51:35 Apple Pivots to Third-Party AI Integration

56:02 Google Photos Adds Natural Language Search

Resource Links

Expanded Access to Full-Text Search

https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/full-text-search-experimental-ai

Ancestry announces the Beta launch of its new document transcription feature

https://www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-blog/ancestry-news/document-transcription-feature

Snagit Screen Capture

https://www.techsmith.com/snagit

Windows Snipping Tool

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/use-snipping-tool-to-capture-screenshots-00246869-1843-655f-f220-97299b865f6b

Screenshots or screen recordings on Mac

https://support.apple.com/en-hk/guide/mac-help/mh26782/mac

Dan Maloney's AI Handwritten Text Recognition Tool

https://www.genea.ca/htr-tool/

Anthropic: Build and share AI-powered apps with Claude

https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-powered-artifacts

Anthropic now lets you make apps right from its Claude AI chatbot

https://www.theverge.com/news/693342/anthropic-claude-ai-apps-artifact

Grok 4 release livestream on Wednesday at 8pm PT

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1942325820170907915

Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok launches into antisemitic rant amid updates

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/07/08/elon-musk-grok-ai-antisemitism/

Apple's Original AI announcement on June 10, 2024

https://www.apple.com/ca/newsroom/2024/06/introducing-apple-intelligence-for-iphone-ipad-and-mac/

Apple's Integrates ChatGPT into iPhones

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/iphone/iph00fd3c8c2/ios

Apple Weighs Using Anthropic or OpenAI to Power Siri in Major Reversal

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-30/apple-weighs-replacing-siri-s-ai-llms-with-anthropic-claude-or-openai-chatgpt

Google Resumes Rollout of AI-Based 'Ask Photos' Image Search

https://petapixel.com/2025/06/27/google-resumes-rollout-of-ai-based-ask-photos-image-search/

Google Product Manager says Ask Photos paused for quality issues

https://x.com/jamieasp/status/1929895255844745284

Ask Photos coming to more Google Photos users

https://blog.google/products/photos/updates-ask-photos-search/

Ask Photos' Original Announcement May 14, 2024

https://petapixel.com/2024/05/14/gemini-powered-ask-photos-brings-an-ai-assistant-to-google-photos/

Tags

Artificial Intelligence, Genealogy, Family History, AI Transcription, FamilySearch, Ancestry, Document Analysis, Handwritten Text Recognition, Full-Text Search, Screen Capture Tools, Natural Language Processing, Machine Learning, OCR Technology, Dan Maloney, Genealogy Assistant, API Keys, Claude AI, Anthropic, Google Photos, Apple Intelligence, Grok AI, David Ouimette, Truth Sets, Research Tools