Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little explore how DeepSeek has dramatically changed the AI landscape by releasing a powerful, inexpensive, open-source model that challenges American dominance in AI.

They celebrate the first anniversary of FamilySearch's Full-Text Search, which has expanded from three collections to three thousand in just one-year, revolutionizing access to billions of previously unsearchable records.

Mark and Steve examine how Google and Microsoft are integrating AI into their productivity platforms, making these tools accessible to mainstream family historians at minimal cost.

This week's Tip of the Week demystifies the difference between instructional and reasoning AI models, helping genealogists choose the right tool for the right job.

In RapidFire, they discuss the ambitious $500 billion Project Stargate, major model updates from Gemini and Grok, and how Deep Research capabilities are becoming standard across all AI platforms.

In the News:

04:34 DeepSeek Shakes the AI World: Game-Changing Model from China

15:51 FamilySearch Full-Text Search Turns One: From Thousands to Billions of Records

23:33 Google and Microsoft Go All-In: AI Integrated into Workspace Tools

Tip of the Week:

29:22 Know Your Model: Understanding Instructional vs. Reasoning AI

RapidFire:

42:25 The Stargate Project: $500 Billion AI Infrastructure Initiative

45:38 Major Model Updates: Gemini 2.0 and Grok 3 Beta Released

48:41 Deep Research Becomes Industry Standard: Available Across All Major Platforms

DeepSeek Backgrounder

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeepSeek

Family Search Free Text Search

https://www.familysearch.org/search/full-text/collection/list

Free Text Search of Ireland, Properties, from 1298 to 1975

https://www.familysearch.org/search/full-text/collection/M9J1-ZYL

Copilot is now included in Microsoft 365 Personal and Family

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2025/01/16/copilot-is-now-included-in-microsoft-365-personal-and-family/

Google AI now Included in Workspace Plans

https://workspace.google.com/blog/product-announcements/empowering-businesses-with-AI

Introducing OpenAI o1

https://openai.com/o1/

OpenAI o3-mini

https://openai.com/index/openai-o3-mini/

Announcing The Stargate Project

https://openai.com/index/announcing-the-stargate-project/

Gemini 2.0 is now available to everyone

https://blog.google/technology/google-deepmind/gemini-model-updates-february-2025/

Grok 3 Beta — The Age of Reasoning Agents

https://x.ai/blog/grok-3

Try Deep Research

https://blog.google/products/gemini/google-gemini-deep-research/

Introducing deep research from OpenAI

https://openai.com/index/introducing-deep-research/

Introducing Perplexity Deep Research

https://www.perplexity.ai/hub/blog/introducing-perplexity-deep-research

Artificial Intelligence, Technology, Genealogy, Family History, DeepSeek, AI Models, FamilySearch, Full-Text Search, Open Source AI, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Reasoning Models, Instructional Models, Language Models, Stargate Project, AI Infrastructure, Research Tools, Deep Research, AI Capabilities

Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little share their predictions for artificial intelligence developments in 2025, with a special focus on how these changes will affect genealogists and family historians.

They explore the emergence of AI agents, the shift to running language models locally on personal devices, and the introduction of chatbots to social media platforms. Mark and Steve also discuss how AI writing tools will become mainstream, even as costs decrease and capabilities increase.

Their predictions include both opportunities and challenges, examining which tools may thrive and which may disappoint in the coming year. They conclude with "anti-predictions" – capabilities that, despite high hopes, probably won't materialize in 2025.

What We Can Look Forward to In 2025

01:02 AI Agents: The Next Big Thing

08:06 Local Language Models: Improved Privacy and Security

13:09 Social Media Chatbots: Coming to Your Groups

18:24 AI Writing Tools: The New Normal

24:16 AI Costs: Dropping Fast

30:43 The AI Horse Race: Who Will Lead?

Anti-Predictions: What Won't Happen in 2025

36:01 Handwritten Text Recognition

40:21 AI Generated Family Trees and Diagrams

44:06 Generated Text in Images

Using Claude for 'Computer Use' Tasks

https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/build-with-claude/computer-use

OpenAI's Operator Agent

https://openai.com/index/introducing-operator/

Facebook's New AI Tool for Groups

https://aigenealogyinsights.com/2024/10/22/exploring-facebooks-new-ai-tool-for-groups/

What to Know About DeepSeek and How It Is Upending A.I. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/27/technology/what-is-deepseek-china-ai.html

Trump's $500B Stargate AI Initiative https://www.forbes.com/sites/ronshevlin/2025/01/23/trumps-ai-push-understanding-the-500-billion-stargate-initiative/

artificial intelligence, technology, genealogy, family history, AI predictions, AI agents, local AI, social media, chatbots, AI writing, language models, OpenAI, DeepSeek, privacy, security, AI costs, machine learning, computer automation, research tools, future technology

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 Research tool and its ability to quickly create comprehensive research reports by combining information from multiple sources.

Next, they discuss Facebook's controversial introduction of AI assistants to Facebook groups and what this might mean for genealogy communities.

The hosts review Google's NotebookLM's significant updates, including enhanced audio capabilities and collaborative features that could transform how genealogists work together.

This week's Tip of the Week demonstrates how ChatGPT Projects can organize and enhance genealogical research, with Steve using his approach to a 2025 genealogy do-over as an example.

In RapidFire, they cover Google's new fact benchmark, Gemini 2.0's release, AI-enhanced search results, and OpenAI's O3 announcement.

In the News:

06:44 Google Deep Research: The New Challenger to Perplexity

18:03 Facebook Groups Get AI Assistants

24:57 NotebookLM: Major Updates for Collaborative Projects

Tip of the Week:

32:15 ChatGPT Projects: Organizing Your Genealogy Do-Over

RapidFire:

41:52 Google's New Fact Benchmark

44:00 Gemini 2.0 Release

48:34 Google AI-Enhanced Search Results

54:48 OpenAI's O3 Model Announcement

AI Seminar at the Victoria Genealogical Society

https://victoriags.org/content.aspx?page_id=4091&club_id=554933&item_id=2488526

Legacy Family Tree Webinars: "Genealogy Meets AI: Panel Discussion"

https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/genealogy-meets-ai-panel-discussion/

Introducing Gemini 2.0: our new AI model for the agentic era

https://blog.google/technology/google-deepmind/google-gemini-ai-update-december-2024/

Certified Arborist Facebook Group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/12652295162

Exploring Facebook's New AI Tool for Groups

https://aigenealogyinsights.com/2024/10/22/exploring-facebooks-new-ai-tool-for-groups/

NotebookLM gets a new look, audio interactivity and a premium version

https://blog.google/technology/google-labs/notebooklm-new-features-december-2024/

Using Projects in ChatGPT

https://help.openai.com/en/articles/10169521-using-projects-in-chatgpt

A new benchmark for evaluating the accuracy of large language models

https://deepmind.google/discover/blog/facts-grounding-a-new-benchmark-for-evaluating-the-

factuality-of-large-language-models/

AI Overviews in Search are coming to more places around the world

https://blog.google/products/search/ai-overviews-search-october-2024/

OpenAI announces new o3 models

https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/20/openai-announces-new-o3-model/

AI, Artificial Intelligence, Genealogy, Family History, Technology, OpenAI, Google, Perplexity, ChatGPT, Meta, Content Licensing, AI Conferences, AI Outage, Ethical AI, Disclosure, Genealogy Research, OpenAI Licensing, Google AI Issues, Perplexity Pages, ChatGPT Updates, Meta AI Developments, Grok.AI, AI in Genealogy, AI Tools, Technology in Genealogy, AI Transparency, AI and Privacy