If you have written a general statement in your family history, AI may be able to help you identify an authoritative source to support it and prepare a source citation. This is unlikely to help with information about a particular person or event, where you need evidence relating to that individual. However, it can work well for broader genealogical, historical or methodological statements.
This is a brief outline of a real task that I completed with an AI assistant, offered as an example of how AI can support family history documentation.
The task
While reviewing a document I was writing, I came across a statement about DNA inheritance. I was confident that the statement was accurate because of my experience with DNA analysis. However, as I intended to publish the document, I wanted to support the statement with a reliable source citation to give readers greater confidence in the information.
So I asked the AI to help.
This was the prompt I gave the AI assistant:
Find me a reputable online source to cite for this statement. It does not have to be a direct quote: “The amount of DNA that you inherit from each ancestor is reduced with each generation and the inheritance is random. So, you and a known relative may share an ancestor but inherit different amounts of DNA from that ancestor. That is why there is a range of shared DNA values for each relationship, rather than a single value.”
What the AI did
The AI searched multiple reputable genealogy and scientific websites, including the International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG), AncestryDNA, 23andMe and the National Institutes of Health. I did not instruct it which websites to use, although I could have directed it to search particular sites if I wished.
It identified the ISOGG Wiki page Autosomal DNA Statistics as the most authoritative and relevant source. It also suggested AncestryDNA’s article What is Genetic Inheritance? as a useful secondary source. Based on my own knowledge of these organisations, I agreed that both were reputable and appropriate, with the ISOGG article being the stronger source for this purpose.
Although I could have written the citation myself, I asked the AI to prepare it in Chicago Author-Date style to save time.
The result
The search took only a few seconds. The AI returned two reputable sources, explained why the ISOGG article was the better choice, and produced a citation formatted in Chicago Author-Date style that was ready for me to review and use.
What this shows
This example demonstrates one way that AI can support family history source citations. When you already have a statement and need to support it with a reliable published source, AI can help identify suitable references, explain why one source may be preferable to another, and prepare a citation in your preferred style.
It does not replace the researcher’s judgement. You still need to evaluate the sources, decide whether they are appropriate for your purpose, and check that the citation is accurate. However, AI can complete much of the time-consuming groundwork in seconds, allowing you to focus on writing and documenting your research.
If you want to learn how to cite family history sources yourself, start with this article.
About the author
Danielle Lautrec is a genealogy educator, researcher, and author of The Good Genealogist. With qualifications in history, family history, and historical archaeology, she teaches for the Society of Australian Genealogists.
Danielle convenes the Society’s Legacy Software Users Group and the Source Citations Group and is co-convenor of the Society’s DNA Research Groups.