The Family History AI Show
Episodes
EP40: AI Models Leap Forward, Research Like a Pro Meets AI, FamilySearch Simple Search, Ancestry AI Stories, Anthropic vs. Uncle Sam
24 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little examine the major AI model upgrades released over the winter, comparing Anthropic's Opus 4.6, OpenAI's GPT 5.4...
EP39: 2026 Predictions for Family History AI, Platform Apps, Handwritten Text Recognition, AI-Enhanced Research, AI-Browsers, and so much more!
17 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the last episode of 2025, Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little present their predictions for how artificial intelligence will transform genealog...
EP38: 2025 Year in Review, A Look Back at Our 2025 AI Predictions, The Reasoning Revolution
08 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little present a special year-end episode, comparing their 2025 AI predictions to what actually unfolded in 2025. Th...
EP37: Google Gemini 3 Released, ChatGPT 5.1 Upgrades, How Reasoning Improves Transcriptions, Canva AI Image Generation
01 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little examine Google's groundbreaking Gemini 3 release, which delivers state-of-the-art multimodal reasoning and set...
EP36: Browser Wars Heat Up, What AI Can Learn from AOL, Anthropic's Speedy New AI Model, Simple Path to Better Prompts
03 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little discuss how new AI browsers are changing how genealogists research. They compare OpenAI's Atlas, Microsoft Edg...
EP35: Nano Banana Comes to Photoshop, ChatGPT Projects Now Free, Citation Best Practices for Nano Banana, Sora 2 Goes Social, Claude Writes MS Office Documents
27 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little explore how Google's Nano Banana photo restoration tool will revolutionize image restoration by integrating wi...
EP34: 2025 Mid-Year AI Review, FamilySearch Full-Text Goes Live, Nano Banana Photo Restoration Tips, AI's Environmental Impact
29 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little review the biggest AI breakthroughs of 2025 so far, from DeepSeek's open-source revolution to GPT-5's unified ...
EP33: ChatGPT 5 Aftermath, Nano Banana Image Revolution, Save Time with AI Citations, Anthropic Changes its Stance on Chat Privacy, The AI Browser Wars Heat Up
10 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little return from summer break to discuss the mixed reception of ChatGPT 5 and how OpenAI responded to user feedback...
EP32: ChatGPT-5 Arrives, Study Mode for ChatGPT, Claude 4.1 Upgrade, OpenAI Goes Open Source, Earnings Season Good for Big AI, Google Loses Another Monopoly Appeal
11 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little explore the groundbreaking release of ChatGPT-5, which arrived after over a year of anticipation. They discuss...
EP31: Special Episode - ChatGPT-5 Finally Drops with Big Improvements for Genealogists
08 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little deliver a special same-day episode covering the long-awaited release of ChatGPT-5, which launched today, Augus...
EP30: ChatGPT Agent Can Research For You, Security In The Age of AI, What AI Is Good For, AI Office Suite Wars Heat Up
06 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little explore OpenAI's groundbreaking ChatGPT Agent, demonstrating how this autonomous tool can research, analyze, a...
EP29: Perplexity's Comet Browser Revolutionizes Research, Grok 4 Released, Context is King, Google’s Video Generator Gets an Upgrade, ChatGPT Agent Launches
28 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little explore Perplexity's groundbreaking Comet browser, which brings AI directly to web pages and can autonomously ...
EP28: AI-Based Transcriptions Transform Genealogy, FamilySearch Interview with David Ouimette, Grok 4's Anticipated Release, Apple Changes Its AI Strategy
21 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little explore how AI-based transcriptions are revolutionizing genealogical research across the industry. They examin...
EP27: AI Image Restoration Concerns, Perplexity's Future, Copyright Cases Are Shaping The Future of AI, Project Workspaces Help You Stay Organized
14 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little examine the controversial rise of AI image "restoration" and discuss how entirely new images are being generat...
EP26: Gemini and Claude Updates, RootsTech Panel on Responsible AI, Interview with Jessica Taylor of Legacy Tree Genealogists, ChatGPT 5 Announcement
07 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little discuss recent updates from Google Gemini and Anthropic Claude that are reshaping AI capabilities for genealo...
EP25: ChatGPT 4o Transforms Image Generation, Jarrett Ross on AI Facial Recognition, Enhanced Image Analysis with O3
10 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little explore OpenAI's revolutionary update to ChatGPT 4o's image generation capabilities, which now creates photore...
EP24: DeepSeek AI Shakes The World, FamilySearch Full-Text Turns One, Microsoft and Google Drop AI Prices, Instructional vs. Reasoning Models
27 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little explore how DeepSeek has dramatically changed the AI landscape by releasing a powerful, inexpensive, open-sour...
EP23: AI Predictions for 2025: Agents, Local Models, Social Media Chatbots, Writing with AI, Costs Keep Dropping
05 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little share their predictions for artificial intelligence developments in 2025, with a special focus on how these ch...
EP22: The Google Empire Strikes Back: Deep Research Challenges Perplexity, NotebookLM's Big Updates, and Facebook Adds AI to Groups
19 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little explore Google's powerful end-of-year releases that challenge other AI platforms. They examine Google's Deep R...
EP21: 12 Days of OpenAI Deep Dive, ChatGPT Canvas Easier to Use, Voice & Vision Unite in ChatGPTs mobile apps, Tips for Free AI Tools
06 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little explore OpenAI's "12 Days of OpenAI" campaign, particularly focusing on their new reasoning models and the exp...
EP20: Top AI Tools Worth Paying For in 2025, AI Tools Not Worth Paying For, 12 Days of OpenAI Begins, Use AI Hallucinations to Your Advantage
30 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little reveal their top recommendations for AI tools worth paying for in 2025. They also discuss which AI tools aren...
EP19: 2024's Top 5 AI Genealogy Breakthroughs, MyHeritage LiveMemory Goes Viral, The Bluesky Migration
03 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little explore the AI developments that had the biggest impact on genealogy in 2024.This week’s episode spotlights ...
EP18: Claude Improves AI Writing, ChatGPT Desktop Apps Arrive, OpenAI Joins AI-Enhanced Search Race, Apple Begins AI Rollout, Meta Brings Reuter’s News to Facebook
21 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little discuss how Anthropic's Claude 3.5 Sonnet upgrade has made Claude an even better AI writer. This make's it ev...
EP17: AI Writing Gets Easier with OpenAI’s New Canvas Feature, Chatbots Try to Replace Traditional Software, Privacy Protection and AI, Big NotebookLM Updates
12 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little examine OpenAI's new Canvas feature, demonstrating how this split-screen interface revolutionizes document cre...
EP16: Genetic Genealogy Conference Roundup, Open AI Launches Canvas, AI Disclosure, Google Photos Goes AI, Nobel Prizes Focus on AI
15 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little recap their experiences at the East Coast Genetic Genealogy Conference last week, highlighting Dana Leeds' inn...
EP15: Talking with Your Chatbot is Now a Reality, FamilySearch Adds Canadian Records to Full-Text Search, & new Responsible AI Use Series Begins
01 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little are excited to share OpenAI's Advanced Voice Mode, which enables natural conversations with AI, and how Family...
EP14: Special Episode on ChatGPT's upgrade to o1-Preview, learn how to (almost) get o1-Preview for free.
26 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this special edition of the Family History AI Show, co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little do a deep dive into OpenAI's latest release, code-named...
EP13: Gemini (finally!) Supports File Uploads, AI’s Impact on Learning, Gemini Adds Saved Prompts, Build Better Prompts With Examples
18 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the Family History AI Show, Mark Thompson and Steve Little explore the latest AI news, views and reviews for family historians. Th...
EP12: Hollywood AI Blunder, AI Image Generator Roundup, Google Lens Saves You Time Researching, Use AI For Translation
10 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little expertly navigate the rapidly evolving AI landscape, offering practical insights on leveraging AI for your family...
EP 11: Microsoft Simplifies Research with “Deep Search”, Google Goes All In on AI, Have We Entered the Post-Photography Era?
27 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little discuss Microsoft's new AI-enhanced search tool, Deep Search. Then, they review Google's major...
EP10: Ancestry’s New AI Tools, Google Gemini Leaps Ahead, Master AI Extraction, and Google’s Olympic Ad Controversy
20 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Join co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little to explore the latest developments in AI and Family History. This week, they discuss Ancestry's innovativ...
EP9: Building Better Prompts, Facebook’s LLM May Benefit Family History, MyHeritage Retires an AI Feature
07 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little explore the potential benefits of Meta's open-source approach to AI. Next, they discuss MyHeritage's plans to...
EP8: Save Time by Summarizing, Meta's Game-Changing AI Upgrade, FamilySearch's Summarization Feature, Is the AI Bubble About to Burst?
31 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this week’s episode, hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little explore Meta AI 3.1's huge large language model upgrade, as well as FamilySearch's inn...
EP7: Perplexity Upgrade, AI Ethical Issues, Building Better Prompts, Siri Upgrade Delayed
24 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little dive into Perplexity's big upgrade, enhancing research capabilities for family historians. They...
EP6: Claude Projects vs Custom GPTs, Student FAQs, The Importance of Chatting with your Chatbot
17 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of The Family History AI Show, hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little discuss the latest advancements in AI tools for genealogists.Disco...
EP5: Claude Sonnet 3.5 is the Best AI update in Months, The AI Industry Reacts to Apple Intelligence, AI Highlights from GRIP Genealogy Institute.
03 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little discuss Steve's recent AI course for genealogists at GRIP and the rapid pace of learning and practical applicatio...
EP4: Toronto AI Conference, MyHeritage Interview, Apple Intelligence, Perplexity and Microsoft have a bad day.
26 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Show Description:In this episode of the Family History AI Show, hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little discuss recent developments in AI for genealogy.T...
EP3: Apple joins the AI Race with Apple Intelligence. ChatGPT improves data analysis for genealogists. Give the gift of trust to future genealogists.
19 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the Family History AI Show, co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little discuss the exciting developments in AI announced at Apple's Wo...
EP2: AI outages, Ethical Debates in Genealogy, Google's awful week. Perplexity's “Pages” simplifies research
11 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
“These tools are so useful […] that even if there are prohibitions against their use, […] there's an incredible temptation to use them surreptit...
EP1: AI in Genealogy: ChatGPT 4o, Google Gemini, and New Tools from FamilySearch
02 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the first episode of The Family History AI Show!This week, Mark and Steve dive into the latest developments in AI and how they are transfor...