Nov 7, 2025
Genealogy Gems Podcast Episode
301
with Lisa Louise
Cooke
November 2025
GEM: The Return of Elephind.com
Imagine having the power to access centuries of history at your fingertips. Elephind.com is making this a reality for genealogists and history enthusiasts alike. In this interview, we explore how this innovative platform is transforming the way we search for historical newspapers.
Show Notes for Full Text Search and video replay.
GEM: Comparing AI Chatbots for Newspaper Transcription
This segment comes from the Premium episode of Elevenses with Lisa called Comparing AI Chatbots for Genealogy. The full episode is available as a video replay and Premium podcast episode and includes a comprehensive downloadable reference cheat sheet.
Newspaper Transcription Takeaways: In this comparison, Gemini came out as the winner for newspaper transcription. LLMs are predictive, so they excel at the narrative, where words relate to each other. It struggles with names, where each is random. It leans toward interpreting names based on names that appeared earlier in the text (ex. Bruhn)
Bonus Tip: After your initial result ask the
chatbot to provide you with a worksheet if it appears there were
questionable words. Prompt: Leave a blank space for each name
you are unsure about that is large enough to accommodate me writing
in the name when I print out your
answer.
Watch our latest videos on using AI for genealogy:
AI: What is it
and how to think about
it (Premium)
Comparing
and Choosing AI Chatbots for
Genealogy (Premium)
AI
Vocabulary Terms
10
Powerful AI Prompts
AI
Research Assistant at FamilySearch
6
Tasks AI Can Do for Your
Genealogy (Premium)
Nano Banana –
Gemini 2.5 Flash Image
Creating Location Guides with
AI (Premium)
AI: Gemini
Gems (Premium)
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