Machine learning, optical character recognition (OCR), natural language processing (NLP), and generative AI are revolutionizing the search and are allowing genealogists to explore wider and deeper, but there is no need for anyone to feel lost in the alphabet soup of new tech!

The Northern Gila County Genealogy Society and the Payson Area Computer Meet-up Group will host Susan Mueller as a guest speaker at their first joint meeting at the NGCGS building.

Mueller is an expert genealogist with more than 30 years of experience sleuthing ancestors. She is a retired educator, has taught monthly genealogy classes for the Erie County Public Library for a decade, and leads the Genealogy Special Interest Group for Computer Users of Erie Pennsylvania.

“I have found the advances in the AI digitization of records and subsequent indexing by our online providers to be extremely exciting,” Mueller said. “ Not only do we have the geometric availability of records, but this comes with total document name-indexing with increased accuracy.”

However, if using AI as a research assistant feels like a foreign or scary concept, you are not alone. Generative AI scares Mueller too. Her presentation, Technology’s Impact on Genealogy, is an opportunity to listen, ask questions, and gain knowledge in a friendly setting.

The public is welcome. The meeting begins at 11 of February 22, at 302 East Bonita, Payson.