AI Experiments

Todd DeDecker

Three years ago, most genealogists weren’t talking about AI. Today, it’s helping us transcribe documents, organize research, uncover patterns, and even build custom tools in an afternoon.

The question isn’t whether AI belongs in genealogy anymore. The question is: how are we going to use it?

At Dallas Genealogy, we’re introducing a bit of a playground for exploring that question. There are tools aplenty (see our recent article on Scribe AI), but how are you employing this technology? What is truly moving your research forward?

With that in mind, we’ll be publishing our thoughts and experiments with the hope that they help inspire your own discoveries. In turn, we hope you’ll contribute your ideas, experiences, and favorite tools so others can benefit as well.

We are still at the very beginning of this journey. Don’t think it has passed you by. If anything, we’re still riding into town while the buildings are being constructed. This is the wild west of AI, and nobody has all the answers yet.

I’ve begun a journey of my own. My research has been sporadic and, frankly, a bit of a mess organizationally. There, I said it. I know we’re among friends and in the tree of trust. 🙂

I’ve recently taken a step back to do some reading, thinking, and planning about how I want to approach genealogy going forward. I’m documenting standards, guidelines, and processes to help keep myself on the straight and narrow.

Good stuff.

But…

This is a hard space to stay focused in, and I found myself embarking on a small side quest last week while doing some reading.

I got to thinking about several of my ancestors and wondered, not for the first time, whether they served during any U.S. conflicts or wars. I did the responsible thing and added a research task to my list, then went back to reading.

Staying focused.

Later that day…

I decided to do a quick search to see whether a website or tool already existed that could help determine which conflicts my ancestors would have been the right age to serve in. Google did its thing and came back with very little. It suggested Fold3 and some military research resources, but nothing that directly answered the question.

Then curiosity got the better of me: what if I stopped looking for the tool and asked AI to build it for me?

You’ve probably heard of “vibe coding,” where AI helps generate code based on natural language prompts. On a whim, in that same Google search chat, I asked it to create a web page based on my idea, pressed Enter, and held my breath.

Fully expecting to be redirected elsewhere, I was delighted when it simply said “sure” and got to work.

It was fast.

Within moments, it had produced HTML, CSS, and JavaScript that resulted in something both functional and surprisingly attractive. This was exciting.

Naturally, I wanted to make a few changes.

The initial version included about half a dozen conflicts, so I asked for a more comprehensive list of U.S. conflicts. It happily expanded the data. I also wanted a toggle that would show only the conflicts where an ancestor’s age aligned with typical military service ages. Again, it churned away and updated the application.

The result was a simple tool that did exactly what I had been looking for.

I reviewed the JavaScript to understand what it was doing and found it straightforward and easy to follow. I also gave the conflict data a quick review. While I wouldn’t call it academically vetted, it was certainly good enough to get started.

What struck me wasn’t just that AI could write the code. It was that I went from a genealogical question to a working research tool in a single afternoon. Ten years ago, that would have required finding a developer or learning a significant amount of programming myself. Today, it’s accessible to anyone willing to experiment and ask good questions.

In less time than it would have taken me to keep searching for the perfect website, I had a working calculator tailored specifically to my needs.

That experience became the inspiration for our new Experiments area.

The Conflict Calculator is our first example of exploring what’s possible when genealogy and AI collide. It’s not perfect, and that’s part of the fun. This is an experiment, after all.

If you notice any errors, omissions, or opportunities for improvement, please use the feedback button on the Conflict Calculator page and let us know. We’d love your help making it better.

More importantly, we’d love to hear what you’re doing.

Have you used AI to solve a genealogy problem? Automate a tedious task? Organize your research? Answer a question you couldn’t easily tackle before?

Share your discoveries, your favorite tools, and even your failures. That’s how we’ll all learn together.

I’m excited to see how creative this community can be.

Join us.