RootsTech 2024 Day 1

NOTE: If you don’t want to read all the session blah-blah-blah and just want to see what silly stuff Cheryl and got into today, scroll down.

Day 1 is in the books! It was full day, mostly dedicated to learning more about how AI can be utilized in genealogy. The first session was delivered by Steve Little, the AI Program Director for the National Genealogical Society.

Session One: Five Tools for your AI Genealogy Toolbox

The room was packed. Probably 500-600 people were in attendance. Steve gave a brief overview of what AI is. sharing that by the end of the first day ChatGPT became available there were 5 million users. He also said that we are truly on the forefront of this amazing technology.

You are on the beach at Kitty Hawk in 1900. I’m here to keep you from getting into trouble

Steve Little, RootsTech presentation FebrUary 29, 2024

During the session, Steve shared some of the limits of AI. In particular, he reminded us that genealogy, as a field, imposes limits, such as citing sources in order to ensure our information is valid. He cautioned against simply accepting whatever the AI generates as gospel.

Steve suggested we work with AI as if it were a real person. Talk to it like it is alive in order to develop the most effective prompts. Another thing, which I have personally experienced, is that even given the exact same prompt, AI is unlikely to generate the same response.

Steve stressed that AI is NOT a search engine. While it can locate information, that’s not the best use. He also said that it will produce “Hallucinations” or false information about 3% of the time. He finished his talk speaking a little about the ethics of using AI. In his opinion, if you can call a friend to help you with a task, then its fine to the same task with the help of AI.

There were many more tips and a good handout to go along with the presentation. I’ll be giving this one high marks!

Session Two: Twenty Questions Trivia Game with Daniel Horowitz of MyHeritage

So glad we chose this session! I had no idea Daniel was so funny! This was an interactive trivia game which we all played along with on our phones using a program called Kahoot. There were 43 participants. I was doing pretty darn good—gad a streak of 7 right answers until I made a boo-boo and lost my spot on the top five. I even held the top spot for a couple questions!! By the end, I came in 7th. I wasn’t too sad not winning the prize – a year’s subscription to MyHeritage, as I am grandfathered into a really excellent subscription price forever! I hope there are more activities like this in the future. Great fun!!

Early Lunch

We decided to take advantage of the empty food hall and grab some lunch After all, our East Coast bodies thought it was 12:30 anyway. We had delicious artisan grilled cheese sandwiches. It was a good plan—no one in line at all!! And tasty!

Keynote Session 1

The main speaker here was Henry Cho, a comedian. I though he was funny. Cheryl wasn’t terribly impressed. This session was recorded which is good, since we came in a little late. I’ll have to watch the recording to see what emotional video Steve Rockwood, FamilySearch CEO was getting choked up over.

Expo Hall Visit Number One

I think I like to Expo Hall more than the classes! We wandered around, chatting up various vendors and gathering swag from the booths. I am amassing a collection of tote bags and other goodies. More on the Expo Hall later.

Sessions Three, Four, and Five: Using AI Tools to Expand Your Research Universe with James Tanner

I decided to attend all three of the sessions. James created a 45-page handout covering all three sessions which I can download at my convenience. He shared a wealth of information—way mor than I can report on here in a short blurb.

The first session was basically an overview of the history of AI. He informed us that as of this morning, FamilySearch launched a new feature on its lab site that has the capability of searching EVERY word in a document. There’s not a lot of data there, but it will be growing. Go to: familysearch.org/labs and then look for experiments and then choose Expand your search with Full Text to try it out.

Everything I say today will be obsolete by Saturday.

james Tanner, rootstech presentaion , february 29, 2024

In session two, James focused on using the various AI tools available. My biggest takeaway there was that Microsoft’s Co-Pilot was definitely worth a try. I was a little disappointed in session three, but it’s probably my fault for not reading the description. I thought he would be teaching how to create images using AI. Instead, the session focused on AI technologies using photos. such as MyHeritage’s excellent technologies.

Back to the Expo Hall

Now the fun really began! I met with the Geneabloggers group for our group photo. What a nice bunch of people! I’m looking forward to becoming more involved with this group that helps bloggers promote their platforms.

We spent the remainder of the evening visiting various booths. More fun to come tomorrow!!

I will leave you with this gem. Turn up the sound for full experience. This was a booth where you could take a 360 degree video. Sadly, there were no instructions so we just goofed our way through it.