Faculty:
- Coordinator and Instructor: Steve J. Little, Jr.
- Other Instructor: Mark D. Thompson
Tuition:
- Regular Price: $615
- NGS Member Price: $575
Description:
This course equips experienced AI users to design evidence-centered, repeatable AI workflows for genealogical research, analysis, writing, citation, disclosure, and responsible automation. Students will work with complex documents, image-based sources, conflicting evidence, writing tasks, tool selection, and workflow design while maintaining human judgment and audit trails.
Level of Instruction:
Experienced AI user; intermediate to advanced genealogical skills. Best for students who already use AI comfortably for genealogy or writing tasks and want deeper, more disciplined workflows.
Student Prerequisites:
Students should be comfortable using at least one major AI chatbot, should have used AI for genealogical tasks before class, and should understand basic genealogical evidence concepts. Students are encouraged to bring a small research problem, document set, or writing sample that can be discussed without exposing sensitive living-person data.
Special Course Requirements:
Students need a laptop capable of accessing the internet, online genealogy websites, and cloud-based AI services. Students may be invited to create free or paid accounts with selected tools as the 2027 tool landscape develops. Homework consists of short practice exercises and optional work on a personal evidence or writing project.
NOTE: All times are listed in Eastern Time.
Live Sessions may be subject to schedule adjustments by your course coordinator.
| Day | Session | Time | Session Title | Description | Instructor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | 1 | 9:00-10:15 | Advanced Course Welcome: From AI Tricks to Research Systems | Set expectations for evidence-centered work, define project outcomes, and shift from isolated prompts to repeatable research systems. | Little |
| Mon | 2 | 10:45-12:00 | Just Because AI Can Doesn’t Mean We Should: AI and Genealogical Ethics | Artificial intelligence gives genealogists extraordinary new capabilities—and some extraordinary new ethical and legal headaches. In this session, we’ll confront the tough choices involving privacy, living people, copyright, model training, and disclosure, examining where the rules are clear, where they’re anything but, and how to make defensible decisions. | Russell |
| Mon | 3 | 1:30-2:45 | Advanced Prompting for Evidence-Centered Genealogy | Build multi-step prompts that separate transcription, extraction, analysis, hypothesis generation, and source-based conclusions. | Little |
| Mon | 4 | 3:15-4:30 | Visual Evidence: Photos, Maps, and Document Images | Evaluate advanced image analysis workflows for photographs, maps, tables, marginalia, and complex document images. | Little |
| Tue | 5 | 9:00-10:15 | Reusable Prompt Systems: Projects, Skills, and Plugins | Design, test, version, and improve reusable prompt systems, including projects, skills, and plugins, for recurring genealogy workflows. | Little |
| Tue | 6 | 10:45-12:00 | Extracting Structured Data from Complex Documents | Use AI to structure data from wills, deeds, pension files, letters, newspapers, and multi-page record sets. | Little |
| Tue | 7 | 1:30-2:45 | AI-Assisted Genealogical Writing and Citation | Draft research-report sections, proof summaries, and narrative passages while preserving source-based reasoning, citations, and voice. | Little |
| Tue | 8 | 3:15-4:30 | Beyond the Prompt | Learn the tools and techniques for working beyond basic chatbot prompts and responses. Learn to feed AI your census images, handwritten letters, audio interviews, and historical videos, then how to create documents, spreadsheets and more, without ever leaving the chatbot. | Thompson via Zoom |
| Wed | 9 | 9:00-10:15 | Advanced AI Research Tools and Model Selection | Compare current tools and models by task, accuracy risk, privacy posture, cost, and fit for genealogical evidence work. | Little |
| Wed | 10 | 10:45-12:00 | Deep Research, Locality Context, and Source Discovery | Use AI to support locality research, source discovery, research planning, and context gathering without losing sight of actual records. | Thompson via Zoom |
| Wed | 11 | 1:30-2:45 | Developer Workspaces Without Panic | Use tools such as AI studios, playgrounds, notebooks, and local files to run more controlled experiments and workflows. | Little |
| Wed | 12 | 3:15-4:30 | AI at Major Genealogy Companies: Deep Dive | Critically examine AI features from major genealogy platforms and decide when platform output belongs in a professional workflow. | Little |
| Thur | 13 | 9:00-10:15 | Resolving Conflicting Evidence with AI Assistance | Organize contradictory evidence, build timelines and comparison tables, and draft provisional reasoning for human review | Little |
| Thur | 14 | 10:45-12:00 | Lightweight Automation and Scripting for Genealogists | Use plain-language scripting, spreadsheet formulas, and low-code patterns to automate repetitive research tasks responsibly. | Little |
| Thur | 15 | 1:30-2:45 | AI for Genetic Genealogy: Uses and Limits | Evaluate where AI can help with DNA evidence, match organization, relationship hypotheses, and explanation, and where it must not overreach. | Little |
| Thur | 16 | 3:15-4:30 | Teaching AI to Read Like a Paleographer: Building Specialized Transcription Agents | Design a transcription agent tuned to one script and record type, using colonial Spanish town and military records, then draft agent rules for a script you work with. | Shumway |
| Fri | 17 | 9:00-10:15 | Assembling Your AI Research Team: Multi-Agent Workflows for Genealogy | Divide a research problem among specialist agents under a lead reviewer who checks each draft, returns flawed work with reasons, and labels findings as confirmed or to verify. | Shumway |
| Fri | 18 | 10:45-12:00 | Expert Panel and Future Workflow Planning | Synthesize the week, address unresolved questions, and leave with a personal workflow roadmap for advanced AI-assisted genealogy. | Little |