Last week, I wrote a post about using handwritten text recognition software to automatically transcribe records. Several people have asked me if and how I use AI for my business, so I thought I would clarify. Handwritten text recognition technology I use handwritten text recognition technology for my personal research and client projects. For one client, Roberta Estes of DNA Explained, I traced a line back to Harlingen, Friesland in the early 1600s. There were earlier records available, but … [Read more...]
Using AI for Transcriptions: VerledenTekst
10 June 2023 by 8 Comments
My friend Willem Vermeulen and I have been playing around with AI the past few weeks to try software for handwritten text recognition. We've been using it to transcribe records of Oosterhout in Noord-Brabant, where we both have ancestors. Short version: it is a game-changer and will forever change how I do genealogy. Loghi The software we used is Loghi, Linux-based software developed by the KNAW (royal Dutch academy for sciences) in collaboration with the National Archives. It is available … [Read more...]
Five good and bad ways to use ChatGPT for genealogy
14 April 2023 by 4 Comments
You may have heard about ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence language model that can understand and generate language. It uses machine learning to analyze and respond to questions by the users. It can give you information about a wide range of topics. In this post, I am going to explore five different ways you can use it. Some are great, some are terrible. I hope showing you the good and the bad will help you realize what you can and cannot use the tool for. I will provide five examples, … [Read more...]
