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| The will of John Reed, my 6th great-grandfather. |
Reviewing my recent ChatGPT activity, I was surprised by how much my AI usage has grown. Last week, I used ChatGPT more than I have in any entire month this year—and that’s not even including my time on other platforms. While ChatGPT is my go-to for AI (I have a paid subscription), I'm slowly getting familiar with others. So far, I have experimented with Co-Pilot, Claude, Meta AI, and Gemini. I’m definitely a beginner, but I’m really enjoying the experience! Here are a few of my successes this week.
Citations
I wrote a newsletter article that needed citations outside my usual templates. Normally, I’d spend time researching the correct format, but ChatGPT generated them quickly, saving me the effort. Although the citations needed some tweaking, I can clearly see that, in the future, citations will be easier to create with AI.
YouTube
While writing about the Virginia Highway Markers program, I wanted details about local programs. The only source was a 90-minute YouTube video, which I knew would tell me more than I wanted to know. Instead of watching the video, I uploaded the video transcript to ChatGPT. It summarized the key points with an offer to expand on any section. A quick follow-up provided the required information. The total time for this task was approximately 15 minutes.
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| Two interesting Highway Markers in my neighborhood |
eBay
Since retiring, I’ve been downsizing and frequently selling on Marketplace and eBay. I wasn't sure how to describe this vintage chocolate mold I wanted to sell on eBay. I submitted a photo to ChatGPT and received a perfect description.
A Will Transcription
John Reed's will, at the top of this post, was found using FamilySearch’s full-text search. Like many other documents found with Full-text search, a not-so-easy-to-follow transcription is included. I asked ChatGPT to rewrite the transcription for clarity without altering the text, and in seconds, I had an easy-to-read version. However, I still need to cross-check it against the original for accuracy.
A Spreadsheet
I wanted a spreadsheet to track attendance for the special interest groups in my local genealogical society. While I could have built the spreadsheet myself, it would have taken me an hour or more since Excel isn’t my strong suit. With ChatGPT’s help, I had a fully functional spreadsheet with drop-down menus in under five minutes.
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| This Excel spreadsheet includes drop-down menus for the Group Name, Month, Day, and Year. |
AI tools are proving to be great time savers. I look forward to learning more and uncovering new uses for these tools daily.
AI Tools Named in this Post
If you want to know about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page, where you will see each post and other genealogical finds.
Diana
"Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States records," Supreme Judicial Court, 1739,
digital images, FamilySearch (https://
www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9RYS-4CR?view=fullText : accessed 18 September 2024), image 1156 of 1409, Will of John Reed.
Virginia Highway Markers and Chocolate Mold, photographs, 2024; private collection of Diana Quinn, Virginia Beach, VA, 2024.
Wow, you got AI to summarize a 90-min YouTube video, only needing 15 min for the process. What a time-saver. Although I haven't done much with AI yet, your post is encouraging me to experiment. TY!
ReplyDeleteThe summary of the video took less than a minute - it was me trying to copy the transcription that took 15 minutes. I think you will really like it.
DeleteThose are great uses for AI. Thank you for sharing so many examples.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Linda! Every time I use it, I learn something new!
DeleteExcellent ideas on using AI. Keep it up! I like the idea of a weekly or monthly post about successes.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Randy. I'm trying to post at least monthly - we will see. It's definitely worth the effort. I've learned so much. FYI - Your blog is in my recent post - Start Reading Genealogy Blogs Tomorrow! The post will also be a newsletter article for my local genealogical society. Genea-Musings is the first blog I followed way back when on my old Google Reader!
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