Next meeting: Wednesday, November 4, 2026 at 7:30 pm on Zoom
AI and Genealogy: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
by Mark Thompson
Artificial intelligence promises to transform family history research, and in many ways it already has. But between the hype and the horror stories, what should a genealogist believe?
In this talk, you’ll take an honest, entertaining tour of AI in genealogy. The good: the applications where AI genuinely delivers, from summarizing lengthy documents to accelerating your research. The bad: the rough edges and failure modes every genealogist should understand before trusting a new tool. And the ugly: the areas where caution is critical and traditional research methods remain essential. Join us to hear Mark’s look at AI’s real potential, and discover what these emerging capabilities could mean for your family history research.
Mark Thompson from Victoria, Vancouver Island, is a professional genealogist, educator, and speaker who helps family historians put technology to work, from Artificial Intelligence to Genetic Genealogy, Excel, and Family Archiving. He co-hosts the Family History AI Show podcast with Steve Little, is a founding member of the Coalition for Responsible AI in Genealogy, and serves as President of the Victoria Genealogical Society.
The Jewish Genealogical Society of British Columbia (JGSBC), a non-profit organization, brings together people who are interested in pursuing their Jewish ancestry or family history. Together with the Jewish Museum and Archives of BC we try to restore the history and family links that time has erased.
While there are many resources available on the internet, their use does require some skill and training. Many traps await the unwary: name changes, spelling errors, the same name for two different people, the many vagaries of census takers, clerks and other takers of record. The difficult task of digitizing the records has led to other errors creeping in. We will help you to avoid those pitfalls and develop an accurate and descriptive family tree. If you are interested in joining us, you can pay for a yearly membership here. Any questions? – send us an email.
This site also has links to resources (including Jewish newspaper archives) that we have found useful in our research.
JGSBC is a member of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies