Research guide
An AI assistant can be a useful research companion: it drafts, summarises, transcribes and tidies. It is only as good as the question you give it, and nothing it says is evidence until you have checked it.
Verify every source. Treat anything an assistant tells you as a lead, not a fact, and prove it from the original record. Limit the personal information you share, especially about living people.
Part I
Six assistants worth knowing. All have a free plan that is enough to start with. Prices were checked in September 2026 and change often, so confirm on the provider's own page before paying.
Not every provider publishes a fixed Australian price. Google and Microsoft do, and those are shown in A$. ChatGPT, Claude and Grok bill in US dollars, so their prices are shown in US$ with an approximate conversion at today's exchange rate.
Fetching today's exchange rate…
The best-known assistant, strong all-rounder for writing, research and images.
Careful, measured writing and very long documents.
Google's assistant, tied into Drive, Docs and Photos.
Microsoft's assistant, built into Word, Excel and Windows.
xAI's assistant, quick with current events.
A capable free assistant from China.
Assistants measure use in tokens: roughly one token per short word. Your question counts, and so does the answer. A 100-word question and a 200-word reply use about 300 tokens. Free plans cap tokens per day or week; paid plans raise the cap.
Good practice
Cross-check anything an assistant tells you against the original record before it goes in your tree.
Keep living people's details, addresses and documents out of the conversation.
Answers reflect what the model was trained on, including old prejudices and gaps in the record.
Treat AI as a research assistant, not a researcher. The conclusions stay yours.
When it adds context, ask where it came from, then check that the source says what it claims.
Ask for Australian spelling and grammar so the style stays consistent.
Part II
Twelve ways an assistant can save hours, and where each fits in the work.
Sift digitised censuses, certificates, shipping lists and newspapers faster, and let databases suggest likely relatives.
Turn scans of letters and documents into searchable text so names, dates and places can be found.
Analyse DNA matches for likely connections, and lay out relationships as a visual tree.
Analyse migration patterns and surname distribution for clues to where ancestors lived or travelled.
Decode records in other languages, from German parish registers to Irish Gaelic.
Enhance faded prints, remove damage or stray objects, and compare faces across generations.
Scan archives for mentions of family members in articles, notices and obituaries.
Some genealogy sites offer assistants that suggest records to explore and guide a search.
AI-assisted communities cross-reference trees and match potential relatives.
Compare records from different sources to check that people and events are correctly linked.
Get a rough transcription of cursive to correct by hand, saving hours on difficult pages.
Turn a block of unstructured text into an orderly table with the right columns.
Part III
Five real tasks, with the prompt quoted exactly as it was given and the result the assistant returned.
Ask plainly for what you want changed. Keep the original file.
Useful for directory entries, muster rolls and newspaper lists.
Give it your facts, ask for a historian's voice, then check every addition.
An assistant can turn notes into a polished narrative and add the life and times around your ancestor. Start with what you know: dates, places, events. Ask for sources for anything it adds, and ask for Australian grammar so the style stays consistent.
George Smith was born in County Fermanagh, Ireland, circa 1799. In 1821, he was transported to Van Diemen's Land aboard the convict ship Westmoreland. His convict record indicates a relatively uneventful period of servitude, with no recorded infractions. Smith was described as 5 feet 6 inches tall, with brown eyes and hair, and bore an anchor tattoo on his left arm.
Upon arrival, he was placed under the assignment system, which allocated convicts to work for private individuals or government departments. Smith was assigned to the Muster Master's Department, where he was responsible for recording convict records, a role that suggests literacy and administrative competence.
In 1835, Smith married Phoebe Wilde, a free settler, at St David's Church in Hobart. Phoebe was the only daughter of Joseph and Edith Wilde. The couple had five children between 1836 and 1848: John, Mary, Phoebe, George and James.
By 1840, the Smith family relocated to Adelaide, South Australia, where they operated the Black Swan Inn, a public house situated on North Terrace. The establishment was well known in the growing colony, providing accommodation and refreshments to travellers and locals alike.
Tragedy struck in April 1850, when Phoebe drowned while crossing from Adelaide to Hobart aboard the Lady Denison. The ship, launched in 1847, was lost at sea under mysterious circumstances, with wreckage later discovered along the Tasmanian coast.
Smith remained in Adelaide, but his life was cut short in 1852 when he suffered a fatal accident while driving a cart loaded with barrels of alcohol. The details surrounding his death remain sparse, but such incidents were not uncommon in colonial Australia, where transport hazards posed significant risks.
It then asked: “Would you like me to refine any sections further or add additional historical context?”
George Smith was born in County Fermanagh, Ireland, circa 1799, during a period of significant social and political upheaval. Ireland was still reeling from the Irish Rebellion of 1798, a failed uprising against British rule that led to harsh reprisals. In 1801, the Act of Union merged Ireland with Great Britain, creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Smith was transported aboard the convict ship Westmoreland, which departed England in 1821. Convict voyages were harsh and overcrowded, with prisoners confined below deck for most of the journey. Ships often stopped at Tenerife or Rio de Janeiro for supplies before continuing to Hobart Town or Port Dalrymple.
Van Diemen's Land was a penal colony, receiving over 75,000 convicts between 1803 and 1853. Smith arrived under the assignment system, which placed convicts in government service or private employment. His literacy secured him a position in the Muster Master's Department, where he recorded convict records.
By 1845, Smith and his family relocated to Adelaide, South Australia, a free colony established in 1836. Unlike Van Diemen's Land, Adelaide did not receive convicts, attracting free settlers seeking economic opportunities. The city was designed by Colonel William Light, featuring wide streets, parklands and a structured layout.
The assistant introduced the Black Swan's address, the Lady Denison's launch date and wreckage, and the colony's convict totals. None of that came from the notes. Each claim is a lead to check in the record before it goes into a family history.
A rough transcription to correct by hand, not a finished one.
Assistants read neat hands well and struggle with faded or stylised script. Ask for a first pass, then correct it against the page yourself. Some tools can be trained on a particular hand and improve over time.
Book titles, event planning and designs for your projects.
Part IV
Videos on AI and genealogy research to take you further.
YouTubeThe basics of using generative AI in genealogy research.
YouTubeFree AI tools that can enhance your genealogy research.
YouTubeWhat AI can and cannot do for your genealogy research.
YouTubeUsing ChatGPT effectively and accurately for genealogy research.
YouTubeA four-part framework for prompts that get results in genealogy.
YouTubeCan AI build your family tree and find missed ancestors?
YouTubeHow AI and genealogy research work together to unlock family mysteries.
