Ready to try your first AI assistant?
The table below shows the "Big Four" chatbots, but the best way to understand them is to jump in and start a conversation. Think of these AI tools as a tireless research assistant who has read millions of historical documents but needs clear instructions from you.
What is a chatbot, you ask?
At its simplest, a chatbot is a computer program designed to simulate a conversation with human users. It is an interface that allows a person to talk to a computer as if they were talking to another person, usually through text or voice. The links below will all open in your default browser.
Common Genealogy Tasks
All four models below are capable of performing these five fundamental tasks:
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Transcription & OCR: Reading digitized images of handwritten letters, census records, or old obituaries and turning them into searchable text.
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Timeline Creation: Taking a messy pile of notes, dates, and locations and organizing them into a coherent chronological life story.
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Translation: Deciphering records from "old country" languages (German Fraktur, Italian civil records, etc.) into modern English.
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Brick Wall Brainstorming: Suggesting "out of the box" record types you might have missed (e.g., "Have you checked the local fraternal lodge records?").
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Historical Context: Explaining what was happening in a specific town or year to explain why an ancestor might have migrated or disappeared from records.
AI Chatbot | Best For... | Genealogy "Superpower" | Free Tier | Source Citations | URL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Brainstorming, organizing, and creative writing. | Great for "breaking brick walls" and creating research plans. | Provides a solid free experience, offering ~10–60 messages/5 hours with 3 images/day. Limits can be dynamically downgraded during high use. | Good | https://chatgpt.com/ | |
Analyzing long documents, summarizing, and writing family histories. | Writes family stories in a warm, natural, human tone. | Many researchers' favorite because it’s so smart, but its free plan is the most strict with ~20 messages/day that can be dynamically downgraded during high use. | Limited | https://claude.ai/ | |
Real-time internet research and integrating with Google Workspace (Docs, Drive) to organize family history | Can "read" and transcribe photos of old documents. | Arguably the most generous because it gives you access to high-end features that others lock behind a paywall. Rarely run into limits. | Good | https://gemini.google.com/ | |
Real-time research, finding records, and citation. | It cites its sources so you can verify the info. | Less about "chatting" and more about "real-time searching" giving you unlimited basic searches, but only about 3–5 deep searches per day. | Excellent (in-line) | https://www.perplexity.ai/ |
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Choose one from the table above and click the link to visit their website. You can start for free with any of them.
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Sign in using an email address or a Google/Apple account you already have.
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The Interface: It looks just like a text message or a chat window. Type at the bottom, and the AI will reply above.
Click on the image to open one of the four chatbot URLs. Use arrows to cycle through images.
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Don't worry about being a "tech expert." Just talk to it like a person. Copy and paste this simple prompt to see what happens. You can try it in each of them to compare and contrast.
"I am a genealogist researching my family history. Can you explain how you can help me organize my research notes and what kind of historical context you can provide for 19th-century immigration?"
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Be Specific: Instead of asking about "the Census," ask about "the 1880 U.S. Federal Census."
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Verify Everything: AI is brilliant but can sometimes "fabricate" (make up) names or dates. Always treat AI suggestions as clues to be verified with primary sources.
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Upload if you can: If you use Gemini or Claude, try uploading a photo of an old headstone or a PDF of a confusing pension file and ask: "Can you transcribe this for me and summarize the key dates?"